With 

Grant  at  Fort  Donelson, 
Shiloh  and  Vicksburg 

And  an  Appreciation  of  General  U.  S.  Grant 


WILBUR  F.  CRUMMER 

of  the  45th  Regt.,  III.  Vols. 


With  Illustrations 


Published  191 S 

By  E.  C.  CRUMMER  &  CO. 
Oak  Park.  HI. 


Copyright  1915 
By  W.  F.  CRUMMER 


'ttvrnsvn&r- 


Table  of  Contents 


Pages 
Fort  Henry  11-23 

Fort  Donelson      -           -  25-47 

Shiloh                                ?-  49  -  90 

Vicksburg  91-171 

Appreciation  of  General  U.  S.  Grant  -        173-190 


- 


Illustrations 


Pages 

1.  General  Grant  examining  a  prisoner's  haversack 

at  Fort  Donelson         -       -        -        -        -        -        31 

2.  Charge  of  the  8th  Missouri  and  llth  Indiana 

Regiments,  led  by  General  Lew  Wallace, 

at  Fort  Donelson         ------        44 

3.  The  fight  in  the  peach  orchard  at  Shiloh  66 

4.  The  23rd  Indiana  and  45th  Illinois  Regiments 

charging  Fort  Hill  after  the  explosion  of 
the  mines  June  25th,  1863,  at  the  siege  of 
Vicksburg  --------  138 

5.  General  U.  S.  Grant    -        -        -       -       -       -       -      173 


Illustrations 


Pages 

1.  General  Grant  examining  a  prisoner's  haversack 

at  Fort  Donelson         -       -        -        -        -        -        31 

2.  Charge  of  the  8th  Missouri  and  llth  Indiana 

Regiments,  led  by  General  Lew  Wallace, 

at  Fort  Donelson         _.__-_        44 

3.  The  fight  in  the  peach  orchard  at  Shiloh  66 

4.  The  23rd  Indiana  and  45th  Illinois  Regiments 

charging  Fort  Hill  after  the  explosion  of 
the  mines  June  25th,  1863,  at  the  siege  of 
Vicksburg  --------  138 

5.  General  U.  S.  Grant    -       *.  .    -       -       -       -       -      173 


FOREWORD 

In  this  year  of  1915,  when  the  sounds  of  bat- 
tle and  strife  come  wafted  to  us  across  the  sea 
from  Europe,  the  younger  generation  are  ask- 
ing questions  of  the  Veterans  of  the  Civil  War 
about  their  experiences  in  battle. 

Formerly  I  lived  in  Galena,  111.,  and  having 
been  personally  acquainted  with,  and  a  neigh- 
bor of  General  U.  S.  Grant,  and  one  of  the  "Boys 
in  Blue"  who  followed  him  in  the  battles  of 
Fort  Donelson,  Shiloh  and  Vicksburg,  I  deem 
it  my  privilege  to  add  my  mite  to  the  history 
that  clusters  round  the  greatest  military  genius 
of  modern  times. 

To  please  many  friends  who  have  heard  my 
lectures  on  the  Civil  War,  and  at  the  request 
of  my  children,  the  following  pages  have  been 
written,  from  data  made  at  the  time  and  since, 
and  from  a  vivid  memory  of  the  stirring  days 
of  1862  and  1863. 

WILBUR  F.  CBUMMEB. 

Oak  Park,  III,  June  14, 1915. 


FORT  HENRY 

CHAPTER  L 

* '  Say,  Will,  did  you  see  that  one  as  it  crossed 
the  line  just  now!" 

"No,  Jim;  how  can  a  feller  see  anything  this 
dark  night?" 

1 '  Well,  he  ran  right  by  me,  and  I  think  he  was 
as  big  as  our  dog,  Rover,  at  home.  Isn't  it  a 
beastly  shame  that  orders  are  so  strict  about 
shooting  while  on  guard?  I'd  like  to  have  shot 
that  fellow  for  sure." 

"Never  mind,  Jim;  you'll  have  enough  of 
shooting  before  this  war  is  over,  I'm  thinking, 
for  I  feel  it  in  my  bones  that  Gen.  Grant  is  get- 
ting ready  to  start  something  in  the  way  of 
fighting,  for  I've  seen  him  two  or  three  times, 
and  he  looks  to  me  as  though  he  was  a  fighter. ' ' 

"Well,  old  scout,  anything  but  this  kind  of 
soldiering. ' ' 

The  conversation  was  between  two  young 
11 


12  FORT   HENRY 

soldier  boys  of  Company  A,  45th  Illinois  Vol- 
unteers, while  on  guard  duty  around  camp  in 
the  month  of  January,  1862,  at  Cairo,  Illinois, 
on  one  of  the  darkest  and  rainiest  nights  they 
ever  saw.  The  "It"  was  a  calf  that  in  cross- 
ing the  path  had  startled  Jim  so  much  he  was 
tempted  to  shoot  it.  As  the  two  neighbor  boys, 
just  from  the  farm  in  Northern  Illinois,  trudged 
back  and  forth  on  their  posts  through  the  deep- 
est and  blackest  mud  they  had  ever  seen,  they 
stopped  at  the  end  of  their  "beat"  as  they  met, 
and  talked  for  a  few  moments  of  home  and  the 
loved  ones  left  behind;  of  camp  and  its  arduous 
duties,  of  drilling  and  guard  duty,  and  then  of 
what  would  be  the  next  move.  The  American 
Volunteers  always  kept  up  a  "think"  or  two  in 
their  heads  as  to  what  would  and  should  be 
done  in  fighting  the  battles  for  the  Union. 

"Will,  I  hope  we  won't  have  to  stay  here 
long." 

*  *  You  bet  we  won 't,  > '  responds  Will.    ' '  Grant 


FORT   HENRY  13 

has  got  something  up  his  sleeve  and  we'll  be 
moving  before  long,  take  my  word  for  it." 

Will  was  right.  In  a  few  days  a  large  num- 
ber of  steamboats  gathered  at  the  wharf,  and 
were  being  loaded  with  ammunition,  commis- 
sary stores  and  all  the  needed  accessories  of  an 
army,  and  then  the  day  came  to  break  camp  and 
the  boys  marched  on  the  boats,  wondering  which 
way  the  boats  would  head  out  in  the  river. 

On  February  4th,  1862,  the  boats  are  loaded 
to  the  guards  and  the  order  is  given,  and  with 
Gen.  Grant  leading  the  way,  the  boats  steam 
out  into  the  Ohio  and  start  upstream. 

Will  and  Jim  were  packed  on  the  upper  deck 
of  the  steamer  "City  of  Memphis"  like  a  box 
of  sardines  with  their  comrades.  While  the 
day  lasted  the  boys  feasted  their  eyes  on  the 
scenery  from  either  side  and  enjoyed  the  first 
steamboat  ride  of  their  lives. 

At  night  they  spread  their  blankets  on  the 
deck  and  laid  down  to  dream  of  home,  but  be- 


14  FORT   HENRY 

C 

fore  going  to  sleep,  they  had  a  "talk-fest,".  as 
they  called  it,  Jim  thinking  they  must  be  going 
to  Cincinnati.  But  Will  thought  different,  and 
said:  "I  don't  know  where  we'll  land,  but  I'll 
bet  a  hard  tack  it  will  be  down  south  somewhere 
among  the  secesh." 

The  next  morning  when  they  awoke  they 
found  themselves,  not  on  the  Ohio,  but  on  the 
Tennessee  river  headed  down  South.  "What 
did  I  tell  you  last  night,  Jim,  that  we  were  go- 
ing to  land  somewhere  in  Dixie. ' ' 

' '  Say,  Will,  are  you  in  close  touch  with  Grant 
that  you  know  what  he 's  going  to  do  ? " 

"No,  but  what's  a  feller  got  a  'bean'  on  top 
of  his  body,  if  it  isn't  to  think  a  little  and  rea- 
son things  out  somewhat?" 

During  the  day  our  boat  tied  up  at  a  landing 

for  the  purpose  of  loading  up  with  cord  wood 
for  fuel.  Permission  was  given  to  the  boys  to 
go  ashore  and  stretch  their  legs.  There  was  a 
large  warehouse  there,  stored  with  merchandise. 


FOBT    HENEY  15 

The  owner  at  once  secured  a  guard  to  be  placed 
over  some  barrels  of  whiskey.  In  every  com- 
pany there  were  men  who  liked  strong  drinks, 
and  in  prowling  around  they  spied  these  bar- 
rels of  whiskey,  and  ways  and  means  were  at 
once  started  to  get  some  of  the  fiery  stuff.  One 
of  the  soldiers  was  directed  to  go  near  one  of 
the  barrels  and  while  talking  with  the  guard  to 
let  his  gun  drop  on  the  floor,  the  man  under- 
neath would  note  where  the  gun  struck  the  floor 
by  the  dust  loosened  up,  and  the  man  who  had 
let  his  gun  drop  came  down  and  directed  just 
where  the  end  of  the  barrel  of  whiskey  would 
be.  An  auger  was  procured  and  a  hole  was 
bored  through  the  floor  into  the  barrel  of  whis- 
key. The  boys  stood  ready  with  their  canteens 
and  caught  the  precious  stuff  (I)  as  it  came 
down.  Not  long  after  quite  a  number  of  the 
soldiers  were  making  merry  and  showing  cer- 
tain signs  of  being  under  the  influence  of  liquor. 
The  officers  were  puzzled  as  to  how  the  men  se- 


16  FORT    HENRY 

cured  the  liquor  and  rushed  to  the  guard,  ac- 
cusing him  of  his  failure  to  properly  guard  his 
charge.  He  denied  strenuously  that  he  had  per- 
mitted any  one  to  touch  the  barrels.  One  of  the 
officers  leaned  against  one  of  the  barrels  and 
being  empty  it  toppled  over,  and  the  cat  was 
out  of  the  bag.  The  guard  was  exonerated,  but 
some  of  the  soldiers  who  had  taken  too  much 
of  the  stuff  for  their  good  were  arrested  and 
punished.  The  plotters,  however,  were  not  dis- 
covered. It  is  a  strange  fact  that  those  who 
liked  the  fiery  liquid,  could  smell  out  where  it 
was  located  and  use  the  most  curious  ways  to 
obtain  it. 

On  February  6,  1862,  in  the  afternoon,  we 
landed  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  river,  and 
the  soldiers  were  located  in  camps  near  by. 
This  being  our  first  camp  in  Dixie,  it  was  called 
"Camp  Halleck."  How  it  did  rain  that  night 
and  blow,  leveling  many  of  our  tents. 

Many  of  the  boys  made  light  of  their  mis- 


FORT   HENRY  17 

haps.  We  pitched  our  tents  near  a  farm  house, 
and  the  planter,  not  knowing  our  reputation  at 
home  for  honesty  and  uprightness,  went  to  our 
Colonel  and  asked  that  a  guard  be  placed  around 
the  farmhouse  to  protect  him  and  his  property. 
The  Colonel  granted  the  request,  for  at  this 
stage  of  war,  orders  were  very  strict  about  for- 
aging and  taking  anything  from  the  planters. 
It  fell  to  the  writer's  lot  to  stand  guard  for  two 
hours  that  night,  during  that  fearful  storm,  over 
some  pigs.  How  digusted  he  was:  the  idea  of 
enlisting  to  fight  for  "Old  Glory"  and  save  the 
Union,  and  the  first  thing  he  had  to  do  was  to 
guard  a  lot  of  dirty  pigs  that  were  not  half 
as  good  as  those  in  his  father's  farm  yard,  but 
"orders  is  orders,"  as  Jim  said,  and  'tis  a  sol- 
dier's duty  to  obey.  Strict  orders  were  issued 
that  no  trespassing  would  be  permitted  and  a 
soldier  caught  stealing  would  be  severely  pun- 
ished. My  two  hours  of  guard  duty  over  those 
pigs  was  up  at  last  and  I  turned  them  over 


18  FORT    HE2STEY 

to  another  sentinel.  During  the  night  a  great 
squawking  was  heard,  and  in  the  early  morning 
the  owner  of  the  farm  complained  to  our  Colonel 
that  the  soldiers  had  stolen  his  geese.  The 
Colonel  ordered  an  officer  to  search  each  tent 
to  find  the  stolen  geese  and  the  thieves.  When 
the  officer  came  to  our  tent,  he  commenced 
to  turn  over  our  blankets  and  knapsacks. 
There  was  one  sleepy  fellow  lying  down  with 
his  head  on  his  knapsack  for  a  pillow,  appar- 
ently sound  asleep ;  the  officer  touched  him,  but 
he  slept  on  and  one  of  the  boys  said:  " Don't 
wake  that  fellow  up,  he's  been  on  guard  duty 
all  night." 

"All  right,"  said  the  kind-hearted  officer  and 
passed  out  of  the  tent.  How  relieved  we  were 
when  he  had  gone  away,  for  that  sleepy  fel- 
low had  his  head  on  his  knapsack  which  held 
the  goose.  Of  course  we  had  goose  for  break- 
fast, and  it  tasted  mighty  good  if  it  was  a 
"Dixie"  goose.  Don't  ask  me  who  stole  it,  for 


FORT    HENRY  19 

T'll  never  tell,  and  my  comrades  will  not  tell. 

The  next  morning  we  took  up  our  line  of 
march  toward  Fort  Henry.  The  rain  had  fallen 
the  night  before,  making  the  roads  very  muddy. 
Many  times  we  had  to  stop,  stack  arms,  throw 
off  knapsacks  and  put  our  shoulders  to  the 
wheels  of  the  artillery  and  help  them  out  of  the 
mud  holes.  We  came  to  several  streams  not 
bridged,  but  we  were  enthusiastic  in  our  seek- 
ing the  enemy  and  spoiling  for  a  fight.  Taking 
no  time  to  build  temporary  bridges,  we 
plunged  into  the  water  waist  deep  and  pushed 
ahead.  This  made  me  think  of  what  I  had  read 
of  our  Revolutionary  fathers  "  wading  swollen 
streams  and  toiling  through  almost  impassible 
barriers  to  fight  for  their  liberty  and  rights." 

We  hadn't  come  to  the  fighting  yet,  but  we 
hoped  to  do  so  soon;  then  we  could  class  our- 
selves with  our  forefathers.  Now,  I  smile  over 
the  thought  I  had  then  when  a  lad  of  18  years, 
and  though  you  may  smile,  the  thought  comes 


20  FORT   HENRY 

that  if  we  youngsters  had  not  had  the  spirit  of 
emulating  the  deeds  of  our  forefathers,  where 
would  this  grand  nation  be  today? 

In  the  distance  the  gunboats  were  hammer- 
ing away  at  Fort  Henry,  and  as  the  sound  of 
the  booming  cannon  came  to  our  ears  we  wished 
we  were  there  to  attack  from  the  land  side. 
Commodore  A.  H.  Foote,  with  five  gunboats, 
had  attacked  the  fort  and  the  fight  was  a  most 
thrilling  picture;  the  whizzing  of  fragments  of 
bursting  shells;  the  deafening  roar  of  the  guns 
in  the  fort;  the  black  sides  of  five  gunboats 
belching  fire  at  every  port  hole  was  something 
to  be  remembered  a  lifetime.  The  fire  from  the 
gunboats  dismounted  seven  big  guns  and 
brought  down  the  flagstaff,  and,  together  with 
the  bursting  of  a  rifled  gun  in  the  fort,  created 
a  panic  in  the  enemy's  ranks.  A  shot  from  the 
enemy  passed  through  the  boiler  of  the  Essex 
and  many  were  scalded.  When  the  Union  tars 
were  told  that  the  enemy  had  surrendered,  a 


FORT   HENRY  21 

sailor  named  Breas,  who  was  badly  wounded, 
sprang  to  his  feet  saying,  "  Surrender  I  I  must 
see  that  with  my  own  eyes  before  I  die,"  and 
then,  climbing  two  short  flights  of  stairs  to  the 
deck,  he  saw  a  white  flag  flying  over  Fort 
Henry,  and  shouted,  " Glory  to  God!"  sank  ex- 
hausted on  the  deck  and  died  that  night. 

We  were  tramping  along  in  the  mud  when 
a  messenger  passed  along  the  line  announcing 
the  capture  of  the  fort  by  the  gunboats.  Some 
of  us  cheered,  but  others  were  silent  and  really 
felt  sore  at  the  sailors  for  their  taking  of  the  fort 
before  we  had  a  chance  to  help  them.  How 
foolish  we  were  then.  We  had  enough  of  fight- 
ing ere  the  war  was  over,  and  after  the  first  bat- 
tle we  never  begrudged  other  forces  the  honor  of 
gaining  a  victory  without  our  help.  Most  of 
the  enemy  had  ''skedaddled"  to  Fort  Donel- 
son.  Commodore  Foote  took  a  small  number  of 
prisoners,  together  with  Commander  General 
Tighlman.  It  was  after  dark  when  we  reached 


22  FORT   HENRY 

the  outer  earthworks,  inside  of  which  we 
camped.  Here  we  spent  our  second  night  in 
Dixie,  without  any  shelter  save  the  blue  sky 
above  us.  We  built  large  fires  and  managed 
to  keep  fairly  comfortable,  although  it  was 
pretty  cold.  Will  was  up  very  early  the  next 
morning,  and,  having  an  intense  desire  to  see 
the  inside  of  the  fort,  took  "French  leave"  and 
started  in  that  direction.  (A  French  leave 
is  nothing  more  than  a  "pass"  taken  on 
your  own  responsibility.)  He  found  that  the 
fort  was  situated  on  a  very  low  piece  of  land; 
indeed,  it  was  a  swamp,  nearly  all  surrounded 
by  water.  The  works  were  well  constructed, 
but  whoever  selected  this  as  a  suitable  site  for 
a  fort  was,  Will  thought,  either  insane  or 
knew  nothing  of  modern  warfare.  Ignorant  as 
Will  was  of  military  ways,  he  said  he  would 
not  have  picked  on  this  place  for  a  fort.  Here 
Will  had  his  first  view  of  the  dead  and  man- 
gled upon  the  battle  field.  One  of  the  largest 


FORT   HENRY  23 

of  the  cannon  had  burst  while  the  cannonading 
was  in  progress  and  this  carried  destruction  to 
all  those  around  the  gun,  tearing  them  all  to 
pieces.  Will  said  afterwards:  "I  shall  to  my 
dying  day  carry  that  picture  in  my  memory/' 
Now,  for  the  first  time,  did  Will  realize  the  hor- 
rors of  war.  In  his  eagernes  to  secure  relics 
he  knocked  off  a  large  piece  of  the  bursted 
cannon  and  with  other  relics  he  loaded  him- 
self down,  but  after  carrying  them  for  a 
while  he  threw  them  away,  thinking  it  would 
be  a  long  time  ere  he  returned  home,  as  it  surely 
proved  to  be.  After  viewing  the  destruction  on 
every  hand  until  he  was  satisfied,  Will  returned 
to  camp  in  time  to  escape  being  noticed  by  his 
officer. 


FORT  DONELSON 

CHAPTER  II. 

With  the  fall  of  Fort  Henry,  we  started  to- 
ward Fort  Donelson.  The  roads  were  muddy 
and  the  country  hilly,  making  the  marching 
hard  work.  About  3  o'clock  p.  m.  of  February 
12,  1862,  the  distant  booming  of  cannon  told 
us  all  too  plainly  that  we  were  near  the  enemy, 
and  we  were  urged  to  greater  speed.  When 
within  two  miles  of  the  fort  a  group  of  officers 
passed  us,  among  them  Gen.  Grant,  Gen.  W.  H. 
L.  Wallace,  Col.  Oglesby  and  others.  We  were 
ordered  to  unsling  knapsacks  and  leave  them 
in  company  piles,  with  a  guard  over  them,  and 
then  away  we  went  over  hills,  valleys  and  ra- 
vines, through  the  woods  and  dense  thickets. 
After  having  marched  about  a  mile  and  a  half 
we  were  halted,  darkness  having  arrived.  The 
night  was  very  chilly  and  cold.  Our  boys  had 
left  their  knapsacks  two  miles  to  the  rear  and 
were  without  blankets.  Cold,  hungry  and  dis- 

25 


26  FORT   DONELSON 

appointed,  we  shivered  during  that  long,  dreary 
night,  and  began  to  realize  what  an  earnest, 
cruel  thing  a  soldier's  life  was.  But  it  was  our 
first  experience,  and  we  "knew  nothing  about 
making  ourselves  comfortable.  We  learned 
better  after  a  while  and  always  carried  our 
blankets  with  us,  whether  in  battle  or  not.  It 
is  the  best  plan  to  always  have  a  blanket  with 
you.  During  the  night  it  rained  and  turned 
very  cold.  We  were  forbidden  to  leave  the 
lines,  hence  could  not  go  back  for  our  blankets. 
Will  gathered  up  a  pile  of  leaves  and  crept  into 
them,  but  this  did  not  keep  him  warm,  and  be- 
coming cold  he  got  up  and  paced  back  and 
forth  to  try  to  keep  warm. 

At  the  first  streak  of  day — February  13, 
1862 — the  enemy  bade  us  good  morning  by  send- 
ing us  a  shell  that  burst  close  to  our  lines,  but 
doing  little  damage.  The  boys  were  mad  and, 
gathering  their  muskets,  said:  " Let's  show 
them  that  we  are  not  to  be  shot  at  without  re- 


FORT   DONELSON  27 

turning  the  compliment,"  but  our  officers  were 
not  ready  to  give  us  a  chance.  The  battle  was 
on,  however,  at  other  points  of  the  line,  and  at 
last  we  were  to  have  our  hearts'  desires,  name- 
ly, of  having  a  shot  at  the  enemy.  We  were 
moved  shortly  to  the  right  and  formed  in  line 
with  our  brigade. 

About  noon  our  General,  W.  H.  L.  Wallace, 
sent  the  48th  Illinois  to  attack  what  looked  like 
a  small  redoubt  to  the  left  and  front  of  us.  This 
regiment  gallantly  attacked  and  fought  desper- 
ately for  some  time,  but  losing  their  Colonel, 
they  fell  back,  and  then  Gen.  Wallace  ordered 
the  45th  Illinois  to  go  to  their  aid.  Now  the 
time  had  come  for  us  to  show  what  stuff  we 
were  made  of;  now  had  come  the  time  to  do 
what  we  had  promised  our  loved  ones  at  home — 
to  fight  gallantly  for  the  dear  old  flag.  The  or- 
ders of  our  Colonel  were : 

"Attention,  battalion!  Fix  bayonets ;  shoulder 
arms;  right  shoulder  shift,  arms.  Forward, 


28  FORT   DONELSON 

march !"  and  all  moved  toward  the  enemy's 
works  over  very  rough  ground.  The  redoubt 
of  the  enemy  was  on  a  hill,  the  ground  sloping 
down  toward  us,  while  the  trees  and  <brush  had 
been  cut  down  to  retard  our  progress.  Pres- 
ently the  bullets  began  to  sing  about  our  heads : 
zip,  ping,  ping,  and  as  we  climbed  the  hill  we 
were  met  by  a  murderous  fire  of  musketry;  the 
men  were  falling  in  bunches  and  the  enemy 
poured  into  us  grape  and  canister  from  their 
cannons. 

When  we  got  close  enough  the  order  to 
fire  was  given,  and  we  boys  sent  our  first  lead 
into  the  enemy  who  showed  themselves  on  top 
of  the  breastwork.  The  firing  on  both  sides 
was  brisk,  but  our  Colonel  would  not  let  the 
men  advance  any  farther.  He  knew  we  could 
not  climb  over  the  trench  in  front  of  the 
breastworks  and  scale  the  works.  We  fought 
an  hour  at  great  disadvantage,  when  the  order 
was  given  to  slowly  retire.  We  had  smelt  pow- 


FORT   DONELSON  29 

der  for  the  first  time  and  had  heard  the  whiz 
of  the  minie-ball,  many  of  our  brave  comrades 
making  the  greatest  sacrifice  a  man  can  make 
for  his  country.  They  had  given  their  lives  for 
the  flag. 

The  gunboats  on  the  river  side  of  the  fort 
had  been  doing  valiant  work,  but  had  suffered 
badly  at  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  The  flagship 
St.  Louis,  had  her  steering  wheel  shattered,  the 
pilot  was  killed,  and  Admiral  Foote  was 
wounded.  The  flagstaff  was  shot  away  and 
Captain  J.  V.  Johnston,  fastening  the  flag  to 
his  arm,  walked  the  deck  and  gave  the  signals. 

For  the  interest  of  my  young  readers,  I  must 
tell  you  about  Captain  Johnston's  little  boy, 
Master  James  Vincent  Johnston,  aged  about  8 
years  at  the  time.  Captain  Johnston 's  wife  and 
little  boy  were  visiting  him  on  the  gunboat 
when  the  enemy  opened  fire  from  an  unseen 
battery  on  the  shore.  The  Captain  had  tied  the 
boy  by  his  mother's  side  in  one  of  the  cabins, 


30  FORT   DONELSON 

but  he  succeeded  in  untying  himself  and  ran 
off  among  the  gunners,  where  he  seemed  to  take 
great  delight  during  the  excitement.  Presently 
the  Captain  came  along  and  met  the  little  fellow 
carrying  a  pouch  of  powder.  His  father  was 
surprised,  and  asked  him  where  he  got  his  load. 
The  child  answered: 

"Why,  Tommy  had  his  head  shotted  off  over 
there  an'  I'm  carrying  the  powder,"  and  he  ran 
to  the  gun  carrying  his  load. 

The  Captain  let  him  have  his  way  and  little 
Jimmy  was  the  hero  of  the  battle,  and  the  sail- 
ors called  him  "Admiral  Jimmie." 

After  the  unsuccessful  attack  on  the  fort  we 
again  took  our  places  in  the  line  with  our  bri- 
gade. During  the  night  the  cold  was  intense 
and  the  men  suffered  much;  some  perished, 
icicles  hanging  from  the  caps  of  the  sentinels. 
Our  grub  at  this  time  was  very  scarce.  We 
learned  better  later  on  in  the  war  to  always 


General  Grant  examining  a  prisoner's  haversack 
at  Fort  Donelson 


FORT   DONELSON  31 

carry  a  good  supply  of  hard  tack  in  our  haver- 
sacks for  just  such  emergencies. 

Towards  evening  some  prisoners  were  cap- 
tured and  were  taken  to  General  Grant,  who 
examined  their  haversacks  and  found  them  well 
filled  with  rations.  The  General  reasoned  from 
this  fact,  that  the  enemy  were  preparing  to 
make  their  escape,  which  they  did  try  to  do  the 
next  day. 

Soon  after  dark  some  of  us  were  detailed  to 
dig  trenches  and  assist  in  erecting  breastworks 
for  the  artillery.  The  Seventh  Corporal  was  de- 
tailed to  take  charge  of  the  squad,  but  it  being 
so  bitter  cold  he  feigned  sickness  and  turned  the 
squad  over  to  Will.  He  took  his  place  and 
did  the  best  he  could,  getting  no  sleep  at  all 
during  the  night.  The  next  morning  Jim  asked 
Will  how  he  liked  his  job.  "Oh,"  said  Will, 
"the  job  was  all  right,  but  I'll  tell  you,  Jim,  I 
think  less  of  that  Seventh  Corporal  than  I  did 
before,  because  of  that  little  trick  of  his." 


32  FORT   DONELSON 

During  the  night  the  Confederate  Generals 
held  a  council  of  war  and  decided  to  mass  their 
troops  on  our  right  the  next  morning,  and  cut 
their  way  out  and  escape. 

Just  as  the  first  faint  streaks  of  light  came 
over  the  hills,  so  also  came  the  compliments 
from  the  enemy,  in  the  shape  of  iron  shells  from 
their  cannons.  McAllister's  battery  returned 
the  salutation  in  earnest  and  the  battle  was  on 
again.  Saturday,  February  15,  1862,  the  enemy 
massed  10,000  troops  opposite  General  McCler- 
nand's  division,  on  our  right,  and  advanced 
upon  our  line,  the  pickets  being  fired  upon  be- 
fore dawn. 

The  order,  * '  Fall  in, ' '  was  given  and  in  a  few 
minutes  the  woods  rang  with  rattle  of  musketry 
and  the  roar  of  cannon.  The  enemy  were  de- 
termined to  turn  our  right  flank  and  escape. 
The  battle  raged  fiercely  for  an  hour  and  a  half, 
and  then  came  a  lull.  Colonel  Forrest  with  his 
dashing  cavalry  made  a  charge  on  our  lines  at 


FORT  DONELSON  33 

one  point  and  captured  one  of  our  batteries. 
The  fighting  at  other  points  all  along  the  line 
that  stretched  for  over  three  miles  was  heavy. 
About  10  o'clock  our  troops  upon  the  extreme 
right  ran  out  of  ammunition,  and  Gen.  Ogles- 
by's  brigade  had  to  fall  back. 

General  Lew  Wallace  now  came  up  with 
fresh  troops,  their  cartridge  boxes  full,  and 
those  that  had  fallen  back  having  now  received 
plenty  of  cartridges  reformed  their  lines  and 
again  took  part  in  the  fight  to  drive  the  enemy 
back  into  their  breastworks. 

On  the  left  of  our  lines  a  charge  on  the 
works  had  been  ordered  by  Gen.  Grant,  and 
Gen.  C.  F.  Smith,  leading  the  boys  in  blue, 
placed  his  hat  on  his  swordpoint  and  holding 
it  aloft,  cried  out :  ' '  This  way,  boys ;  come  on, ' ' 
and  the  boys  followed  their  courageous  leader 
amidst  a  terrible  hail  of  minie-balls  and  cannon 
shot.  The  2nd,  7th,  12th  and  14th  Iowa  and 
the  25th  Indiana  Regiments  engaged  in  this 


34  FORT   DONELSON 

charge,  planting  their  colors  on  the  outer  works, 
the  enemy  falling  back  to  an  inner  breastwork. 
There  was  more  or  less  fighting  all  day,  but  we 
finally  drove  the  enemy  back  into  their  fort  and 
had  them  cooped  up  and  nearly  surrounded. 

During  the  battle  in  front  of  our  lines,  one 
of  our  company  was  wounded  and  went  a  few 
rods  to  the  rear  and  sat  down  behind  a  tree. 
The  Lieutenant  Colonel  seeing  him  there  and 
thinking  he  was  skulking  went  at  him  fiercely, 
saying:  "Gill,  get  back  into  line."  Now,  Gill 
was  an  odd  genius,  slow  of  speech  and  having 
a  peculiar  drawl  in  his  manner  of  speaking,  re- 
plied: "I  guess  not,  Colonel;  I'm  wounded." 

"Where  are  you  wounded?" 

"In  the  breast,  Colonel." 

The  Colonel  still  having  his  doubts,  asked 
where  the  ball  hit  him.  Gill,  raising  his  finger 
and  covering  the  track  of  the  bullet,  said:  "It 
went  skewaggling  this  a  way. ' ' 

Sure  enough,  a  minie-ball  had  torn  a  hole 


FORT  DONELSON  35 

clear  across  his  breast,  making  an  ugly  look- 
ing flesh  wound.  Gill  remained  behind  the  tree 
until  told  to  go  and  see  the  surgeon. 

It  is  a  fact  that  many  new  words  were 
coined  during  the  Civil  War,  some  of  them  com- 
ing into  general  use  and  finding  place  in  the 
dictionaries. 

So  far  I  have  not  seen  Gill's  new  word  in  the 
dictionaries,  but  surely  it  was  a  most  apt  de- 
scription of  how  he  was  wounded. 

Another  member  of  our  company  was  taking 
his  coffee  from  the  fire  in  the  early  morning 
when  a  stray,  spent  bullet  from  the  enemy 
struck  him  in  the  head  and  knocked  him  down. 
He  was  taken  back  a  short  distance  and  the 
surgeon  extracted  a  bullet  flattened  out  and 
lying  just  under  the  scalp.  He  recovered,  but 
the  boys  called  him  "Old  bullet-proof  skull," 
or  "Old  hard  head,"  after  that. 


CHAPTER  III. 

That  night,  as  the  boys  lay  in  line  of  battle, 
they  discussed  the  doings  of  the  day. 

"Say,  Will,  how  did  you  feel  to  be  in  battle 
today?" 

"Well,  Jim,  the  greatest  strain  was  waiting 
in  line  of  battle,  either  for  an  advance  or  to  re- 
ceive the  enemy's  charge  when  I  could  do 
nothing,  and  hearing  the  booming  of  cannon 
and  rattle  of  musketry  in  other  parts  of  the  bat- 
tle field,  I  felt  as  though  my  heart  was  in  my 
mouth,  and  there  came  a  desire  to  run  for  a 
place  of  safety;  but  after  we  got  into  action, 
amid  the  smoke,  dirt,  excitement  and  noise,  I 
forgot  where  my  heart  was  and  had  no  desire 
to  run ;  fear  had  been  displaced  by  a  savage  in- 
stinct to  inflict  injury  on  the  enemy." 

Many  have  tried  to  explain  the  feeling  while 
on  the  battlefield,  and  it  is  probable  that  a  bat- 
tle affects  men  in  different  ways.  However,  we 

37 


38  FORT   DONELSON 

think  Will's  description  of  the  feeling  is  about 
right. 

Late  Saturday  night  we  bivouacked  near  the 
firing  line  without  fire  and  very  little  to  eat. 
The  ground  was  covered  with  snow  and  ice  and 
the  weather  very  cold. 

Captain  Johnson,  of  Company  F,  had  his  feet 
frozen  so  badly  he  never  could  wear  his  boots 
again,  but,  instead,  wore  a  pair  of  large  army 
brogans. 

Fatigue  parties  were  detailed  to  search  for 
and  bring  in  the  wounded;  this  labor  extending 
throughout  the  night,  the  surgeons  never  rested 
and  there  was  no  distinction  between  the  blue 
and  the  gray. 

As  the  Union  army  on  this  dreary  Saturday 
night  rested  in  bivouac  close  in  front  of  the 
enemy's  works,  the  moans  of  the  wounded  could 
be  heard,  and  here  and  there  flickering  lights 
moved  through  the  woods  on  errands  of  mercy. 

Mother  Bickerdike,  a  nurse  with  the  Union 


FORT   DONELSON  39 

army,  was  out  on  the  battle  field  with  her  lan- 
tern, groping  among  the  dead,  stooping  down 
and  turning  their  cold  faces  towards  her,  she 
scrutinized  them  earnestly,  uneasy  lest  some 
might  be  wounded  and  left  to  die  uncared 
for.  How  many  poor  fellows,  sick  and  wounded, 
have  been  ministered  to  by  her  loving  hands, 
and  the  soldiers  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee, 
who  loved  Mother  Bickerdike,  have  said  over 
and  over  again,  "God  bless  Mother  Bicker- 
dike." 

One  incident  has  come  down  to  us  which 
shows  how  she  loved  her  boys.  One  morning, 
visiting  one  of  the  wards  in  a  certain  field  hos- 
pital at  about  11  o'clock  a.  m.,  she  found  the 
poor  fellows  had  had  no  breakfast ;  the  doctor 
in  charge,  had  not  been  present  to  make  out 
the  special  diet  list  for  each  one,  he  having  been 
out  on  a  spree  the  night  before.  The  doctor 
came  in  just  as  Mother  Bickerdike  learned  the 
facts  and  she  went  for  him. 


40  FORT   DONELSON 

"You  miserable  scoundrel;  here  these  men, 
anyone  of  them  worth  a  thousand  of  you,  are 
suffered  to  starve  and  die,  because  you  want 
to  be  off  on  a  drunk.  Pull  off  your  shoulder 
straps,  for  you  shall  not  stay  in  the  army  a  week 
longer ! ' ' 

The  doctor  laughed  at  her,  but  within  three 
days  she  had  caused  his  discharge.  He  went  to 
General  Sherman  to  be  reinstated. 

The  General  said:  "Who  caused  your  dis- 
charge?" 

"Why,"  said  the  doctor,  hesitatingly,  "I 
suppose  it  was  that  woman,  Mrs.  Bickerdike." 

"Oh,"  said  General  Sherman.  "Well,  if  it 
was  she,  I  can  do  nothing  for  you;  she  ranks 
me." 

During  the  night,  while  we  boys  were  trying 
to  keep  from  freezing  and  wondering  what  the 
morrow  would  bring  forth,  the  Confederate 
Generals  held  another  council  of  war,  deciding 
they  could  not  hold  out  longer  against  Gen. 
Grant's  army,  and  would  surrender. 


FORT   DONELSON  41 

Colonel  Forrest  (who  commanded  the  cav- 
alary)  during  the  council  arose  and  said:  "I 
will  not  surrender  my  command  or  myself,*'  and 
left  the  council.  During  the  night,  or  early 
morning,  he  and  his  command  escaped  by  wad- 
ing the  river  on  our  extreme  right,  which  was 
unprotected  by  the  Union  forces. 

Colonel  Forrest  was  a  brave  man  and  a  ter- 
rible fighter,  as  our  troops  afterwards  learned 
on  numerous  occasions. 

The  two  senior  Generals  of  the  Confederates 
turned  the  command  over  to  Gen.  S.  B.  Buck- 
ner,  who  somewhat  scornfully  notified  his  col- 
leagues, that  if  they  proposed  to  escape  they 
must  do  so  speedily,  for  after  he  should  open 
negotiations  with  General  Grant  no  one  would 
be  allowed  to  leave  the  fort. 

I  have  always  admired  General  Buckner  for 
declining  to  leave,  claiming  as  he  did,  that  it 
was  honorable  to  stay  with  his  soldiers. 

During   the   night   or   early   morning,    Gen. 


42  FORT   DONELSON 

Buckner  sent  a  note,  under  a  flag  of  truce,  to 
Gen.  Grant,  asking  an  armistice  to  arrange 
terms  of  surrender. 

Without  a  moment's  hesitation,  Gen.  Grant 
wrote  the  following  answer,  probably  one  of 
the  finest  specimens  of  energetic  war  literature 
in  military  history. 

"No  terms  other  than  an  unconditional  and 
immediate  surrender  can  be  accepted.  I  pro- 
pose to  move  immediately  upon  your  works." 

Upon  the  receipt  of  this,  Gen.  Buckner 
promptly  returned  his  answer  of  acceptance. 

From  this  time  on  during  the  war,  Gen.  U.  S. 
Grant  was  known  as  "Unconditional  Surrender 
Grant." 

Will  kept  a  diary  and  we  are  permitted  to 
quote  from  it: 

"Soon  after  daybreak  (Sunday,  February  16, 
1862)  we  heard  great  cheering  by  the  troops 
along  the  line  and  presently  orderlys  came  gal- 
loping towards  us,  swinging  their  caps  and  pro- 


FOBT  DONELSON  43 

claiming  the  news  of  the  surrender  of  the  fort. 
Did  we  shout?  Well,  if  we  didn't  use  our  lungs 
then  we  never  did.  Hip!  Hip!  Hurrah!  from 
every  man  in  blue.  The  victory  was  ours  and 
we  rejoiced  over  the  fall  of  the  Confederate 
stronghold. ' ' 

The  Union  loss  was  about  2,400,  and  the  Con- 
federate loss  was  2,000  killed  and  wounded,  be- 
sides 15,000  prisoners  and  munitions  of  war. 

Presently  the  order  to  march  was  given  and 
we  marched  into  Fort  Donelson  with  bands 
playing  and  colors  flying.  It  was  a  grand  sight, 
as  regiment  after  regiment  poured  in  with  their 
flags  floating  gayly  in  the  wind,  and  the  brass 
bands  playing,  "Hail  Columbia,"  "Yankee 
Doodle,"  etc.,  in  such  style  as  the  gazing  cap- 
tives had  never  heard  even  in  the  palmy  days 
of  peace. 

The  Confederates  were  drawn  up  in  line  with 
their  guns  thrown  down,  and  with  a  woebegone, 
sullen,  downhearted  look  they  watched  our 
parading. 


44  FORT   DOFELSON 

A  few  of  them  told  us  they  were  forced  into 
the  army  and  did  their  fighting  unwillingly. 
We  did  not  believe  a  word  of  it.  We  marched 
to  the  large  fort  next  to  the  river  and  planted 
our  colors  upon  the  ramparts  and  then  camped 
inside  the  fort.  The  prisoners  were  very  anx- 
ious to  know  what  their  fate  was  to  be.  They 
were  assured  they  would  be  taken  north  and 
kept  as  prisoners  of  war  until  exchanged. 

Gen.  Lew  Wallace  was  the  first  inside  the 
works,  and  going  to  the  Confederate  headquar- 
ters was  met  by  Gen.  Buckner,  who  invited  him 
to  breakfast,  which  invitation  was  accepted,  the 
bill  of  fare  being  coffee  and  corn  bread. 

The  fall  of  Fort  Donelson  was  the  first  great 
and  valuable  victory  won  by  the  Union  armies 
during  the  war.  When  the  news  flashed 
through  the  loyal  states,  the  people  went  wild 
with  enthusiasm.  Salutes  were  fired,  joy  bells 
rung,  flags  displayed  everywhere,  and  the  peo- 
ple asked  one  another:  "Who  is  this  Grant, 


-Sja 
a~5 


FOBT  DONELSON  45 

and  where  did  he  come  from  1 ' '  Before  the  war 
closed  the  people  found  out  who  Grant  was  and 
what  was  in  him. 

There  were  others  in  the  battle  of  Donelson, 
who,  afterwards  became  famous.  There  was 
our  gallant  Illinois  soldiers,  Colonel  John  A. 
Logan,  the  " Black  Eagle"  of  Egypt;  the  bluff 
old  Colonel  Richard  Oglesby,  both  of  whom  be- 
came Major  Generals,  and  after  the  war 
served  in  the  United  States  Senate  from  the 
State  of  Illinois.  Then  Gen.  Lew  Wallace, 
of  Indiana,  the  noted  author  of  "Ben  Hur," 
and  Colonel  John  A.  Eawlins,  of  Galena,  111., 
chief  of  staff  of  Gen.  Grant,  who,  afterwards 
became  Secretary  of  War  under  Grant,  and 
many  others. 

In  speaking  of  Colonel  Oglesby,  we  must  give 
you  an  old  story  about  him  which  happened 
while  he  was  in  command  of  the  8th  Illinois 
Kegiment.  One  day  while  the  regiment  was 
in  camp,  two  of  the  drum  corps  went  into  the 


46  FORT  DONELSON 

woods  to  practice,  and,  while  practicing,  a  nice 
fat  pig  came  nosing  around.  The  temptation  to 
the  drummers  was  too  great ;  the  pig  was  caught 
and  slaughtered,  but  now  the  thought  came  to 
them:  "How  shall  we  get  into  camp  without 
discovery."  A  happy  idea,  "Let's  put  him  in 
the  big  drum."  So  the  head  of  the  drum  was 
taken  off  and  Mr.  Pig  safely  stowed  away,  and 
they  arrived  at  camp.  The  regiment  was  on 
dress  parade  when  they  arrived  at  camp.  The 
Colonel  was  vexed  at  their  absence,  and  as  soon 
as  he  saw  them,  sternly  ordered  them  to  take 
their  places  with  the  music.  The  drummers  did 
not  know  what  to  do,  but  one  of  them  went  up 
to  the  Colonel,  and,  in  an  under  tone,  told  him 
the  situation,  winding  up  with,  "We  'low, 
Colonel,  to  bring  the  best  quarter  over  to  your 
mess."  The  Colonel  thundered  out:  "Sick, 
hey!  Why  didn't  you  say  so  at  first.  Go  to  your 
quarters,  of  course.  Battalion  right  face,  to 
your  quarters,  march."  The  Colonel  had  fresh 
pork  for  supper. 


FORT   DONELSON  47 

After  the  fall  of  Fort  Donelson,  the  people 
of  the  North  believed  that  it  would  be  but  a 
short  time  until  the  rebellion  would  be  put 
down,  and  we  boys  could  go  home.  Captain 
Johnson  wrote  home:  "I  believe  it  won't  be 
over  three  months  now  until  the  rebellion  will 
be  squelched  and  we  shall  be  permitted  to  go 
home. ' ' 

Yes,  we  boys  thought  then  that  we  had  broken 
the  backbone  of  the  rebellion,  and  that  the  war 
would  soon  be  over.  How  badly  mistaken  we 
were  history  proves.  It  was  but  the  beginning 
of  a  terrible  four  years  of  battle  and  bloodshed 
ere  the  end  came. 


SHILOH 

CHAPTER  IV. 

We  remained  in  Fort  Donelson  for  a  little 
over  two  weeks.  The  weather  was  miserably 
wet,  cold  and  disagreeable  all  the  time,  and  the 
boys  wondered  why  we  didn't  move  on,  and 
were  getting  impatient. 

* '  Say,  Will,  how  long  do  you  think  we  are  go- 
ing to  stay  in  this  miserable  old  hole?" 

"I  don't  know,  Jim;  but  I'll  bet  you  a  hard- 
tack that  we  will  be  marching  within  three 
days." 

"  You  seem  to  be  so  cocksure,  I  wonder  if  Gen. 
Grant  has  told  you  anything. ' ' 

"No,  Jim,"  said  Will,"  he  hasn't  told  me 
anything,  nor  do  I  believe  he  has  told  anybody 
what  he  is  going  to  do,  for  I  believe  he  is  one 
of  those  silent  men  that  talk  very  little." 

"Well,  what  makes  you  so  certain  we  are  go- 
ing to  move  soon  1 ' ' 

"Oh,  I  just  put  two  and  two  together  and 

49 


50  SHILOH 

add  them  up  and  it  makes  four.  So,  when  I  see 
them  getting  the  horses  and  mules  all  shod  and 
loading  up  our  commissary  and  ammunition 
wagons  to  the  top,  I  just  say,  that's  two  arid 
two  and  that  makes  four,  and  so  we  march. ' ' 

"Well,  Will,  you  are  a  curious  fellow,  and 
if  we  do  move  soon,  I'll  say  you  are  one  of  the 
smartest  fellows  in  camp." 

"Oh,  shaw!  that  isn't  smartness,  that's  just  a 
little  common  horse  sense  put  to  work." 

Will's  prophecy  came  true,  and  in  three  days 
the  victorious  army  under  Grant  started  again 
for  the  Tennessee  Eiver.  On  March  24,  1862, 
we  landed  at  Pittsburg  Landing  on  the  west  side 
of  the  Tennessee  River,  and  went  into  camp 
about  two  miles  southwest  of  the  landing. 

At  this  place  Gen.  Grant  was  assembling  an 
army  to  march  on  to  Corinth  and  attack  Gen. 
Johnson's  Confederate  forces.  Our  troops  had 
been  located  with  a  view  to  convenience,  rather 
than  in  a  compact  line  facing  an  enemy.  The 


SHILOH  51 

great  gaps  between  the  different  divisions  indi- 
cated that  the  officers  did  not  expect  a  general 
attack;  still,  I  cannot  see  how  they  could  have 
lulled  themselves  into  this  belief.  To  show  that 
there  had  been  signs  of  an  enemy  hovering  near 
our  camps,  I  will  copy  from  an  old  diary  kept 
by  me  at  that  time.  I  had  forgotten  this  in- 
cident until  reading  it  lately  when  it  all  came 
back  to  me  as  vividly  as  though  of  recent  oc- 
currence. "April  4th.  Today  I  am  on  guard 
as  Sergeant  of  the  Second  Belief. 

"At  night  the  troops  were  ordered  out  in  line 
of  battle,  word  having  come  that  an  attack  had 
been  made  upon  our  outer  line  of  pickets.  Our 
regiment  moved  to  the  right  and  in  front  of  our 
camp. 

"My  relief  was  on  duty  some  little  distance 
in  the  woods.  Soon  after  the  alarm  was  given, 
I  received  orders  from  the  officer  of  the  day  to 
take  off  my  sentinels  and  order  each  man  to  his 
respective  company  for  duty.  I  proceeded  to 


52  SHILOH 

obey  orders  and  had  passed  about  half  way 
'round  giving  orders  to  my  men,  when,  groping 
through  the  underbrush,  I  came  to  a  sentinel 
whom  I  could  not  see  very  well  because  of  the 
extreme  darkness,  and  supposing  he  was  one  of 
my  guard,  I  gave  the  order,  and  was  just  start- 
ing away  when  the  sentinel  called  out  sharply, 
'Halt.'  I  had  given  the  countersign  before,  so 
I  turned  and  wanted  to  know  what  was  up.  He 
informed  me  that  he  was  on  picket  duty  and 
wanted  to  know  who  I  was  and  what  I  wanted. 
I  explained  the  situation  to  him,  which  seemed 
satisfactory,  and  I  was  permitted  to  go.  Re- 
tracing my  steps  I  found  my  own  guard  line. 
I  had,  in  the  darkness,  stumbled  into  the  picket 
line  of  another  regiment  and  was  ordering  in 
soldiers  with  whom  I  had  no  business.  The 
sentinel  was  all  right  and  determined  to  do  his 
duty,  for  as  he  cried  halt  he  raised  his  musket, 
pulled  the  hammer  and  was  ready  to  shoot,  but 
as  an  obedient  soldier  I  obeyed  his  command 


SHILOH  53 

and  halted,  and  in  so  doing  escaped  being  shot 
by  one  of  our  own  soldiers.  The  troops  were 
kept  in  line  of  battle  until  10  o  'clock  p.  m.,  when 
the  officers,  believing  it  to  be  a  'scare/  ordered 
the  soldiers  to  their  respective  camps." 

This  incident  tends  to  show  that  the  enemy 
was  hovering  near  our  immediate  front. 

Calling  a  few  years  ago  upon  my  old  Colonel, 
Gen.  John  E.  Smith,  of  the  United  States  army 
(now  deceased),  and  talking  over  some  of  our 
battles,  I  asked  him  about  some  feature  of  the 
battle  of  Shiloh,  to  which  he  replied:  "Well, 
Wilbur,  after  reading  all  the  histories  and  arti- 
cles published  on  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  I  am  in 
doubt  whether  I  was  there  at  all."  But  he  was 
there,  and  by  reason  of  his  courage  and  skill 
merited  the  promotion  he  afterwards  received. 

The  Generals  and  officers  have  had  almost 
a  monopoly  since  the  war,  in  telling  how  such 
and  such  a  battle  was  fought,  and  the  maga- 
zines have  been  filled  with  the  story  of  General 


54  SHILOH 

So  and  So  winning  this  battle  and  losing  an- 
other. The  Sergeants,  Corporals  and  the  pri- 
vates who  did  the  hard  fighting  in  the  ranks 
have  not  been  heard  from  very  much.  It's  about 
time  we  had  our  say,  so  that  the  future  his- 
torian may  gather  facts  from  the  ranks  as  well 
as  from  the  officers,  and  thus  be  able  to  make  a 
complete  history. 

The  ground  at  Shiloh  is  quite  uneven  and  very 
woody,  with  here  and  there  a  field  or  "clear- 
ing." 

There  was  a  little  log  church  near  Gen.  Sher- 
man's camp,  called  "Shiloh,"  where  the  bat- 
tle commenced,  and  the  great  battle  of  April 
6  and  7,  1862,  has  gone  down  in  history  as  the 
battle  of  Shiloh. 

The  Confederate  army  had  approached  our 
lines  very  quietly  within  two  miles ;  the  beating 
of  drums  had  been  forbidden  and  every  pre- 
caution taken  to  keep  the  Union  army  from 
knowing  of  their  presence.  The  sound  of 


SHILOH  55 

"taps"  in  the  Union  army  at  9  o'clock  Satur- 
day night  was  distinctly  heard  in  the  enemy's 
camp,  but  we  hard  no  '  *  taps ' '  from  their  army. 

Never  did  a  morning  open  with  brighter,  hap- 
pier prospects  than  did  that  Sunday  morning 
of  April  6, 1862.  Never  did  the  sun  beam  forth, 
shedding  its  golden  rays  on  a  devoted,  unsus- 
pecting army,  with  more  loveliness.  Never  was 
a  wilderness  made  more  cheerful  and  inviting 
by  the  innocent  chirpings  and  songs  of  myriads 
of  warbling  songsters,  perched  among  the  many 
trees  of  our  camp,  little  dreaming  of  the  ap- 
proaching dangers  which  was  destined  so  soon 
to  be  drenched  with  human  blood. 

Will,  being  an  early  riser  from  force  of  habit, 
having  been  raised  on  a  farm,  had  been  up  long 
enough  to  have  eaten  his  breakfast,  while  Jim, 
his  bunk  mate,  was  just  coming  out  of  his  tent, 
when  the  rattle  of  musketry  was  heard  out  in 
front  to  the  southwest. 

"Will,  what  was  that  noise  off  there,  rum- 


56  SHILOH 

bling  of  the  wagons'?"  inquired  Jim. 

"No,  Jim,  I  think  its  musketry  firing." 

"Oh,  said  John  Shannon.  "You  are  away 
off.  There  isn  't  any  enemy  within  miles  of  us. ' ' 

While  the  boys  were  debating,  the  long  roll 
sounded  at  headquarters,  "bur-r-r-r  rat-tat-tat- 
bur-r-r. ' ' 

The  boys  were  astonished  and  startled,  but 
they  knew  then  what  the  noise  they  had  heard 
meant,  and  each  man  jumping  for  his  musket 
and  cartridge  box,  fell  into  line  without  the 
word  of  command.  In  less  than  five  minutes 
the  regiment  was  in  line  ready  for  orders.  This 
was  about  6  o  'clock  in  the  morning.  After  wait- 
ing impatiently  for  some  fifteen  or  twenty  min- 
utes, we  received  orders  from  Gen.  McClernand, 
commanding  our  division,  to  move  to  the  left 
a  little  and  out  in  front  to  support  Gen.  Sher- 
man's division,  whose  troops  were  the  first  to 
receive  an  attack  from  the  enemy,  which  was  so 
fierce,  desperate  and  sudden  that  some  of  his 


SHILOH  57 

troops  were  surprised  and  thrown  into  a  panic. 
They  rallied,  however,  and  checked  the  foe. 
Soon  heavy  musketry  and  cannonading  were 
opened  on  our  immediate  left.  Again  we  were 
moved  to  the  left  to  aid  the  troops  now  in  mor- 
tal combat,  and  taking  our  position  in  the  woods 
we  awaited  the  enemy. 

Now,  out  of  the  forest  in  front  march  the 
gray  line  of  battle,  four  columns  deep,  with 
arms  at  a  right  shoulder  shift.  On  the  columns 
march,  without  a  break  in  their  ranks,  carrying 
a  flag  which  appears  to  be  the  stars  and  stripes. 

When  they  got  near  enough  for  our  soldiers 
to  open  fire  on  them,  we  begin  to  get  uneasy 
and  want  to  commence  firing.  The  men  in  the 
ranks  realize  that  the  first  volley  is  needed  now 
to  check  the  oncoming  foe.  Jim  was  one  of  the 
nervous  fellows  and  said  to  Will:  ''What  does 
it  mean?  Why  don't  our  officers  give  the  com- 
mand to  fire?" 

Will  replied:    "You  know  the  orders  are  not 


58 


SHELOH 


to  fire  until  the  command  is  given."  But  even 
Will  believed  we  were  making  a  mistake  in  not 
firing,  now  that  the  enemy  was  in  range. 

The  strain  for  those  few  minutes  becomes  too 
intense.  A  few  of  the  men  commence  to  shoot 
without  orders,  when  an  officer  rushes  down  the 
line  shouting:  " Cease  firing,  those  are  our 
troops." 

Two  or  three  men  of  Will's  company,  who 
had  no  fear  of  an  officer,  and  who  now  at  this 
supreme  moment  seemed  to  know  more  than 
their  officers,  had  been  firing,  among  them  Jim, 
who  answered  the  officer :  '  '  The  hell  they  are ! 
You  will  find  out  pretty  d — d  soon  they  are 
not." 

Will  said :  '  *  Better  obey  the  officer,  Jim ;  but 
I  can't  blame  you  for  swearing  a  little  just 
now. ' '  The  soldiers  obeyed  and  ceased  firing. 

Five  minutes  of  terrible  suspense,  with  that 
gray  line  advancing  nearer  and  nearer;  then 
suddenly  a  most  destructive  volley  of  musketry 


SHILOH  59 

was  poured  into  our  ranks,  and  our  men  fell  like 
autumn  leaves.  Did  we  wait  for  orders  to 
* '  fire  I "  No !  Every  man  opened  fire,  loading 
and  discharging  his  gun  as  rapidly  as  possible, 
the  roar  of  musketry  from  either  side  being  ter- 
rific. The  underbrush  is  mowed  down  by  bul- 
lets. Men  are  shot  in  several  places  in  the  body 
in  a  moment.  The  dead  lie  where  they  fall,  and 
the  wounded  drag  themselves  to  the  rear.  Our 
rapid  firing  has  now  checked  the  onward  march 
of  the  enemy  in  our  immediate  front,  but  the 
regiment  and  battery  upon  our  right  were  not 
so  fortunate,  and  with  unearthly  yells  the  enemy 
charge  the  battery.  The  gunners  fight  like 
heroes,  manning  their  guns  until  bayoneted. 
The  boys  thought  it  was  Schwartz's  battery. 
The  horses  all  being  killed  or  wounded  the  can- 
non could  not  be  taken  away  and  were  cap- 
tured. It  is  related  of  an  officer  of  this  bat- 
tery that,  later  in  the  day,  he  rode  up  to  Gen. 
Grant,  and  touching  his  cap,  said:  "Sheneral, 


60  SHILOH 

I  vants  to  make  one  report.  Schwartz's  bat- 
tery is  took." 

"Ah,"  said  the  General;  "how  did  that  hap- 
pen?" 

"Veil,  you  see,  Sheneral,  de  secesh  come  up 
in  front  of  us  and  dey  flank  us  and  so 
Schwartz's  battery  was  took." 

"Well,  sir,"  said  the  General;  "you  spiked 
the  guns,  of  course?" 

"Vat!"  exclaimed  the  officer;  "schpike  dem 
new  guns.  It  would  spoil  dem." 

The  regiment  that  supported  this  battery 
failed  to  stand  up  to  the  rack,  and  when  the 
charge  was  made  beat  a  retreat  too  soon.  Our 
right  flank  was  now  about  to  be  turned  by  the 
enemy,  and  the  order  was  given  to  fall  back  a 
short  distance.  We  fell  back  about  two  hun- 
dred yards  and  the  lines  were  again  formed.  At 
this  first  engagement  of  the  day  we  left  a  large 
number  of  our  boys  to  sleep  their  last  sleep. 
Again  the  battle  was  on,  and  the  terrible  work 


SHELOH  61 

of  destruction  went  on  all  along  the  line.  The 
screaming  shells  and  whizzing  bullets  carried 
death  and  wounds  wherever  they  went.  The 
line  of  battle  stretched  for  a  distance  of  two 
miles  and  raged  with  fury  the  entire  length, 
the  enemy  massing  their  forces  at  certain  points 
and  pushing  the  Union  troops  back,  then  at- 
tempting to  flank  the  regiment  to  the  right  or 
left.  Such  were  the  tactics  used  by  Generals 
Johnson  and  Beauregard,  and  they  were  well 
managed,  indeed. 


CHAPTER  V. 

One  position  after  another  was  taken,  and 
from  each  we  were  driven,  or  had  to  fall  back 
for  fear  of  being  flanked. 

The  third  position  our  brigade  took  was  on 
the  brow  of  a  small  hill,  where  we  held  the 
enemy  at  bay  for  two  hours,  at  one  time  charg- 
ing and  driving  them  for  a  quarter  of  a  mile, 
then  falling  back  for  lack  of  support  on  our 
right. 

A  Confederate  officer  has  said  of  Shiloh: 
"The  Confederate  assaults  were  made  by  rapid 
charges  along  the  line.  They  were  repeatedly 
checked  and  often  repulsed.  Sometimes  coun- 
ter charges  drove  them  back,  but  whether  in  as- 
sault or  recoil,  both  sides  saw  their  bravest  sol- 
diers fall  in  frightful  numbers. "  This  officer's 
statement  is  true  to  the  letter. 

We  then  took  a  new  position  on  the  edge  of  an 
open  field.  For  an  hour  we  listened  to  and 

63 


64  SHILOH 

were  in  the  midst  of  an  artillery  duel.  At  times 
the  battle  seemed  to  die  out,  and  all  was  still 
in  our  immediate  vicinity ;  but  this  stillness  only 
portended  the  fiercer  the  fight  when  again  com- 
menced. 

About  3  o'clock  our  cartridges  began  to  run 
low,  and  we  borrowed  each  of  the  other  until 
all  was  gone;  we  were  holding  the  enemy,  but 
now  our  guns  were  silent.  What  a  helpless  man 
a  soldier  is  in  a  battle  with  no  ammunition. 
We  marched  to  the  rear  left  in  front  in  search 
of  cartridges,  and  none  too  soon  either,  for  a 
troop  of  the  enemy's  cavalry  were  seen  on  our 
right,  trying  to  get  in  our  rear  and  take  us  pris- 
oners. We  had  not  gone  far  when  we  met  a 
line  of  fresh  troops,  of  whom  we  begged  car- 
tridges, but  the  caliber  was  not  the  right  size 
for  our  Enfield  rifles  and  we  could  not  use  them, 
and  we  started  on  again  hunting  for  cartridges, 
the  enemy  pressing  us  so  hard  that  the  Cap- 
tain of  the  rear  company  went  rushing  up  to 


SHILOH  65 

the  Colonel,  exclaiming  breathlessly: 

"My  God,  Colonel,  they  are  not  fifty  yards 
from  my  company,  and  we  haven't  a  shot  to 
defend  ourselves." 

"Keep  cool,"  said  the  Colonel,  "and  don't 
say  anything,  the  enemy  don't  know  we  are  out 
of  ammunition,  and  we  will  come  out  all  right 
yet." 

We  had  not  gone  far  when  we  met  a  wagon 
loaded  with  cartridges.  Caliber  58.  Did  you 
ever  see  a  hungry  lot  of  men  wade  into  a  bang- 
up  dinner? 

Will  was  the  first  to  mount  the  wagon  and 
rip  open  one  of  the  boxes  in  quick  order,  the 
men  scrambling  up  into  the  wagon,  and  crying 
out:  "Give  me  some,  give  me  more!"  The 
cartridge  boxes  and  pockets  were  filled  in  short 
order.  We  then  took  our  position  on  the  right 
of  our  brigade,  supporting  a  battery. 

The  enemy  soon  opened  on  us  with  a  heavy 
artillery  fire,  and  either  having  the  best  guns 


66  SHILOH 

or  gunners  silenced  our  cannon.  The  horses 
were  killed,  men  wounded  and  killed,  but  the 
infantry  held  the  line ;  we  felt  strong  and  cour- 
ageous now,  with  plenty  of  cartridges.  The  men 
began  to  realize  that  this  line  must  be  held 
though  every  man  fall. 

There  was  one  place  on  the  battle  line  of  Sun- 
day which  was  occupied  by  the  gallant  troops 
under  Gen.  W.  H.  L.  Wallace,  and  who  held  the 
enemy  at  bay  for  a  long  time,  the  Confeder- 
ates charging  this  place  several  times  and  be- 
ing repulsed  each  time.  "Its  a  regular  hor- 
net's nest,"  said  one  of  the  Confederate  offi- 
cers, and  the  spot  as  located  by  the  United 
States  Commissioners  of  the  Shiloh  National 
Park,  bears  the  name,  "Hornet's  Nest,"  at  the 
present  time.  It  was  at  this  point  that  the 
brave  and  beloved  Gen.  W.  H.  L.  Wallace  re- 
ceived his  mortal  wound.  To  the  east  of  the 
"Hornet's  Nest,"  a  short  distance,  is  the  place 
where  Commanding  General  of  the  Confeder- 


The  fight  in  the  peach  orchard  at  Shiloh 


SHILOH  67 

ate  army,  Gen.  Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  was 
killed.  I  believe  that  Gen.  Johnston  was  the 
greatest  General  of  the  Confederate  army,  and 
many  others  agree  with  me. 

A  little  to  the  rear  of  Gen.  Wallace's  troops 
was  a  small  pond  of  water.  The  wounded  sol- 
diers crawled  to  this  pond  to  slake  their  thirst 
and  bathe  their  wounds,  and  so  many  washed 
their  wounds  in  this  pond  that  the  water  looked 
like  a  pool  of  blood,  and  it  was  called  the 
"Bloody  Pond." 

The  pond  is  still  there,  and  has  a  fence  around 
it,  with  a  tablet  giving  its  name,  "Bloody 
Pond,"  and  captured  cannon  surround  it. 

The  Union  forces  that  were  left  were  now  con- 
centrated in  a  much  shorter  line,  with  no  gaps 
susceptible  to  a  flank  movement  of  the  enemy. 

As  the  sun  went  down  in  the  west  I  noticed 
it  looked  as  red  as  blood,  indicative  of  the 
bloody  work  we  had  been  doing  on  that  holy 
Sabbath  day.  Night  again  brooded  o'er  us. 


68  SHILOH 

With  the  awful  carnage  of  blood  and  destruc- 
tion strewn  over  two  miles,  with  thousands  of 
killed  and  wounded  on  both  sides,  no  doubt  both 
armies  were  glad  that  darkness  closed  the  ter- 
rible struggle,  for  the  day  at  least.  Our  Or- 
derly Sergeant  of  our  company  called  the  roll 
and  out  of  55  that  started  in  the  morning,  31  an- 
swered "here,"  and  with  the  exception  of  two 
or  three,  the  rest  had  been  killed  or  wounded. 

We  bivouacked  on  the  firing  line,  the  rain 
coming  down  during  the  night  wetting  us 
through  and  through.  Our  company  was  with 
others  detailed  for  picket  duty  that  night  be- 
tween 10  and  12  o'clock,  and  stationed  about 
two  hundred  yards  in  front  of  our  line. 

Will  was  posted  near  a  big  tree.  The  night  was 
pitch  dark,  and  having  had  nothing  to  eat  since 
morning  he  was  tired  and  sleepy.  But,  realiz- 
ing the  duty  of  a  soldier  never  to  fall  asleep  on 
the  picket  line,  he  tried  in  every  way  to  keep 
awake.  In  telling  his  experience  afterwards  to 


SHILOH  69 

Jim,  he  said :  '  *  I  never  worked  harder.  I  pulled 
my  hair  and  bit  my  lips  to  keep  awake.  About 
11  o  'clock  I  heard  the  cracking  of  twigs  in  front 
of  me.  The  darkness  was  intense.  I  could  see 
nothing,  but  sleepiness  was  gone  then.  I  lis- 
tened intently.  On  it  came,  something,  somebody 
making  straight  for  me.  I  waited,  with  musket 
ready  to  fire,  until  I  thought  it  time  to  make 
the  challenge,  and  then  cried  out :  'Halt;  Who 
goes  there?'  He  halted,  and  out  of  the  dark- 
ness came  a  voice  saying: 

1(1  'I  am  wounded  and  want  to  get  to  a  sur- 
geon. '  I  was  not  satisfied  with  this.  He  might 
be  an  enemy  trying  to  capture  the  sentinels,  and 
the  enemy  then  would  make  a  night  attack  on 
our  sleeping  army  in  the  rear.  So  I  plied  him 
with  questions  as  to  his  regiment,  brigade  and 
division,  to  which  he  answered  in  such  a  man- 
ner that  he  convinced  me  he  was  telling  the 
truth,  and  I  told  him  to  advance.  He  came  hob- 
bling along  with  a  broken  ramrod  of  a  can- 


70  SHILOH 

non  for  a  crutch,  shot  through  the  leg.  I  called 
the  Sergeant  of  the  Guard:  'Sergeant  of  the 
Guard,  Post  No.  6,'  and  the  next  sentinel  took 
up  the  cry  and  pretty  soon  the  Sergeant  came 
and  I  turned  the  poor  fellow  over  to  be  taken 
to  the  Surgeon." 

All  things  have  an  end.  Twelve  o  'clock  came, 
and,  being  relieved,  we  returned  to  the  sleeping 
line,  and,  throwing  ourselves  on  the  ground,  we 
at  once  fell  asleep.  All  night  the  surly  gunboats 
kept  up  a  deadly  fire  on  the  enemy  in  front  of 
our  left. 

Twice  during  the  night  I  awoke,  and  could 
hear  the  groans  and  cries  of  the  wounded  lying 
out  there  on  that  bloody  field.  Some  cried  for 
water,  others  for  some  one  to  come  and  help 
them.  Many  years  have  passed  since  that  ter- 
rible day  and  night,  yet  when  my  mind  reverts 
to  that  time,  I  can  hear  those  poor  fellows  cry- 
ing for  water.  God  heard  them,  for  the  heavens 
were  opened  and  the  rain  came. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

In  the  evening  of  April  6  a  few  of  Gen.  Buell's 
troops  had  arrived  and  were  placed  in  position. 
During  the  night  the  boats  brought  the  balance 
of  Buell's  army  across  the  Tennessee  River  and 
they  Were  in  line  of  battle  ere  the  break  of  day. 

Volumes  have  been  written  about  the  battle 
of  Shiloh.  Some  think  Buell's  army  saved  us. 
Of  course,  they  helped  to  win  the  second  day's 
battle ;  still  there  is  nothing  to  prove  that  Gen. 
Grant 's  army  would  not  have  won  without  their 
assistance  on  the  next  day. 

Let  me  quote  what  I  wrote  over  fifty  years 
ago,  when  it  was  fresh  in  my  mind : 

"Some  think  it  was  Buell's  army  that  saved 
the  army  of  Gen.  Grant  from  total  destruction. 
I  think  otherwise,  and  my  reason  is  this:  we 
had  been  driven  back  so  near  the  river  that  our 
lines  were  concentrated  as  before  they  were 

scattered.     During  the  night  Gen.  Grant  and 

71 


72  SHILOH 

his  aides  had  perfected  their  line  of  battle,  and 
Gen.  Lew  Wallace's  division  had  arrived  from 
Crump's  Landing,  and  every  man  left  in  the 
line  knew  that  to  retreat  another  foot  meant 
total  annihilation,  and  the  words:  'We  must 
whip  them  in  the  morning,'  were  upon  every 
man's  lips." 

The  enemy  was  badly  hurt,  and  Gen.  Grant 
knew  it  and  felt  confident  that  victory  must  be 
ours  on  the  morrow. 

The  morning  light  had  scarcely  come  on  the 
7th  of  April  when  the  roar  of  artillery  an- 
nounced the  opening  of  the  second  day's  battle. 

The  command,  ''Forward,"  was  given  and  the 

0 

entire  line  moved  forward.  We  were  the  ag- 
gressors today,  and  made  the  first  attack. 

Fighting  continued  steadily,  the  enemy  yield- 
ing every  foot  with  great  reluctance,  stubbornly 
holding  their  ground,  until  12  o'clock,  when  a 
general  charge  was  made,  and  the  tide  of  bat- 
tle was  turned  in  favor  of  the  Union  forces. 


SHILOH  73 

During  this  charge,  Will  fell  to  the  ground, 
thinking  he  was  shot  through  the  leg,  for  it  hurt 
so  badly  he  couldn't  stand  up;  he  pulled  up  his 
trousers  to  see  where  the  minie-ball  had  struck 
him,  to  find  that  the  ball  had  only  grazed  his 
shinbone,  cutting  a  nice  clean  hole  through  his 
pants,  but  not  bringing  a  drop  of  blood.  Will 
was  disgusted,  that  he  should  fall  out  with  just 
a  bruised  shinbone,  and  jumping  up  he  went 
limping  after  his  company. 

By  3  o'clock  Gen.  Beauregard,  who  was  now 
in  command  of  the  Confederate  forces,  gave  the 
order  for  a  retreat.  They  kept  up  a  fight  to 
cover  their  retreat  until  night,  but  when  dark- 
ness came  we  were  in  possession  of  our  old 
camps,  where  we  bivouacked,  filled  as  they  were 
with  the  dead  of  both  armies.  We  had  no  diffi- 
culty in  sleeping  well,  even  though  the  silent 
dead  lay  all  about  us.  The  dead  do  not  disturb 
us ;  it  is  the  living  we  should  be  afraid  of.  We 
built  fires  and  cooked  our  frugal  meal,  and, 


74  SHILOH 

after  eating,  we  gathered  'round  the  camp  fire 
and  recounted  the  deeds  of  valor  done  during 
the  great  battle,  speaking  kind  words  of  our 
brave  comrades  who  had  fallen. 

A  few  Sibley  tents,  torn  and  riddled  by  shot 
and  shell,  were  all  we  had  left.  I  lost  my  shirts, 
blankets,  letters  from  home,  my  testament 
(mother's  gift)  and  a  picture  of  the  "girl  I 
left  behind  me."  I  was  more  indignant  over 
the  loss  of  my  girl's  picture  then  I  was  over 
the  other  articles. 

On  Tuesday  I  was  detailed  with  others  to 
bury  the  dead  lying  within  our  camp  and  a 
distance  of  two  hundred  yards  in  advance.  I 
had  charge  of  digging  the  grave,  if  a  trench 
over  sixty  feet  long  and  four  feet  deep,  can  be 
called  a  grave. 

The  weather  was  hot,  and  most  of  the  dead 
had  been  killed  early  Sunday  morning,  and  dis- 
solution had  already  commenced.  The  soldiers 
gathered  the  bodies  up  and  placed  them  in 


SHILOH  75 

wagons,  hauling  them  near  to  the  trench,  and 
piling  them  up  like  cord  wood. 

We  were  furnished  with  plenty  of  whiskey, 
and  the  boys  believed  that  it  would  have  been 
impossible  to  have  performed  the  job  with- 
out it. 

When  the  grave  was  ready,  we  placed  the 
bodies  therein,  two  deep;  the  father,  brother, 
husband  and  lover,  all  to  lie  till  Gabriel's  trum- 
pet shall  sound.  All  the  monument  reared 
to  those  brave  men  was  a  board,  nailed  to  a 
tree  at  the  head  of  the  trench,  upon  which  I  cut 
with  my  pocket  knife,  the  words :  '  *  125  rebels. ' ' 

We  buried  our  Union  boys  in  a  separate 
trench,  and  on  another  board  were  these  words : 
' '  35  Union. ' '  Many  of  our  men  had  been  taken 
away  and  buried  separately  by  their  comrades. 
It  was  night  when  we  finished  the  task,  some 
of  the  squad,  "half  seas  over"  with  liquor,  but 
they  could  not  be  blamed,  for  it  was  a  hard  job. 
The  next  day  we  burned  the  dead  horses  and 
mules. 


76  SHILOH 

A  few  words  about  the  great  battle  of  Shi- 
loh,  as  an  old  veteran  views  it,  as  well  as  some 
words  deduced  from  history. 

It  has  often  been  told  that  the  enemy  sur- 
prised us  at  Shiloh;  that  the  men  were  asleep 
in  their  tents  and  were  even  bayoneted  there. 
This  most  certainly  is  erroneous.  The  Confed- 
erate officers  report  that  early  Sunday  morning, 
while  they  were  planning  the  attack,  their  dis- 
cussion was  abruptly  brought  to  an  end  by  the 
Union  out  posts  commencing  an  attack  on  them. 

Our  soldiers  were  not  surprised  in  the  sense 
of  being  taken  off  their  guard. 

It  was  a  surprise  in  the  sense,  that  Gen.  Grant 
and  his  officers  did  not  expect  an  attack  in  force 
by  the  enemy,  or  if  they  did,  they  made  a  great 
mistake  in  not  being  prepared.  The  fact  re- 
mains, we  were  not  ready  to  receive  the  enemy ; 
not  a  shovelfull  of  earth  had  been  thrown  up  for 
protection,  and  the  several  divisions  were  scat- 
tered so  as  not  to  form  a  continuous  battle  line. 


SHILOH  77 

If  mistake  it  was  on  the  part  of  Gen.  Grant,  he 
profited  by  it,  for  such  a  thing  did  not  happen 
ever  afterward.  That  the  first  day's  battle  of 
Shiloh  was  a  stubborn  and  desperate  battle  can- 
not be  denied.  Badeau,  in  his  military  history 
of  Gen.  Grant,  says :  '  *  For  several  hours  of  the 
first  day  there  was  as  desperate  fighting  as  was 
ever  seen  on  the  American  Continent,  and  that, 
in  proportion  to  the  number  engaged,  equaled 
any  contest  during  the  rebellion. ' ' 

Gen.  W.  T.  Sherman  said :  "I  never  saw  such 
terrible  fighting  afterward. ' ' 

Gen.  Grant  has  said :  ' '  Shiloh  was  the  sever- 
est battle  fought  in  the  west  during  the  war, 
and  but  few  in  the  east  equaled  it  for  hard, 
determined  fighting."  Again  he  says  in  his 
Memoirs,  speaking  of  Shiloh:  "I  saw  an  open 
field  the  second  day,  over  which  the  Confeder- 
ates had  made  repeated  charges,  so  covered 
with  dead  that  it  would  have  been  possible  to 
walk  across  the  clearing  in  any  direction,  step- 


78  SHILOH 

ping  on  dead  bodies  without  the  foot  touch- 
ing the  ground." 

Gen.  McClernand  and  his  division  have  never 
received  their  just  meed  of  praise  for  his  and 
their  part  in  the  battle  of  Shiloh. 

Gen.  Grant  in  his  later  life  says  this :  *  *  The 
heaviest  loss  sustained  by  the  enemy  was  in 
front  of  Sherman's  and  McClernand 's  divi- 
sions. ' ' 

The  official  records  show  that  on  April  5, 
1862,  Gen.  Grant  had  39,830  men  and  officers 
for  the  first  day's  battle,  and  Gen.  Johnston  of 
the  Confederates  had  43,968  when  we  started 
the  battle  of  Shiloh. 

The  loss  of  the  Confederates  was  24  1-3  per 
cent;  the  loss  of  Grant's  five  divisions  present 
for  duty  on  Sunday  was  26%  per  cent.  The 
loss  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  under  Grant 
at  Shiloh  was  10,944;  the  loss  of  the  Army  of 
the  Ohio  under  Buell  was  2,103.  Only  a  few  regi- 
ments of  Buell 's  army  got  into  action  late  in 


SHILOH  79 

the  evening  of  the  first  day.  Total  Union  loss 
13,047,  but  this  includes  2,314  Union  prisoners 
of  Gens.  Prentiss'  and  Wallace's  divisions;  the 
loss  of  the  Confederates  was  10,699. 

I  remember  no  amusing  incidents  during  the 
battle,  save  that  of  one  of  my  company,  who 

• 

was  shot  through  the  mouth  in  such  a  way  as 
to  knock  out  all  of  his  front  teeth.  He  was  a 
German,  who  spoke  English  brokenly,  and 
swore  like  a  trooper;  he  would  spit  blood  and 
then  curse  the  enemy  with  great  vehemence, 
and  loading  his  gun  and  firing,  would  exclaim  : 
"D —  'em,  dey  tinks  dey  vill  spile  me  so  I  can't 
eat  hard  tack,  d —  'em,  I'll  show  dem!"  And 
so  he  fought  while  his  comrades  cheered  him 
on. 

It  has  been  said  that  war  is  grand  and  heroic ; 
that  fighting  is  a  glorious  thing ;  so  it  is  to  read 
about,  but  the  veterans  of  fifty  years  ago  have 
seen  war;  they  know  what  a  horrible  thing  it 
is,  and  I  believe  that  every  old  veteran  who 


80  SHILOH 

has  stood  in  the  battle  front,  has  it  in  his  heart 
to  say:  "God  grant  that  wars  may  cease,  and 
that  universal  peace  may  come  to  this  world  of 
ours." 

Shiloh  was  a  terrible  battle,  and  now  after 
fifty  years  have  slipped  by,  I  sit  in  my  easy 
chair  and  occasionally  dream  of  the  past.  I 
seem  to  hear  again  as  vividly  as  then,  the  boom- 
ing of  cannon,  the  rattle  of  musketry  and  the 
whia  of  the  minie-ball,  amid  the  cries  and 
groans  of  my  comrades  who  touched  elbows  with 
me,  and  I  ask  myself:  "Can  it  be?  Was  I 
there,  or  is  it  a  wild  fancy  of  the  brain  ? ' '  The 
scenes  come  too  vividly  before  my  memory  to 
doubt  it,  and  I  thank  God  that  I  was  able  with 
my  comrades  to  bear  a  humble  part  in  saving 
to  those  who  come  after  us,  this  grand  nation, 
and  in  helping  to  perpetuate  but  one  flag,  the 
Stars  and  Stripes — the  "Heaven-born  banner" 
— to  float  over  a  reunited  land  and  people. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Before  leaving  my  story  of  the  battle  of  Shi- 
loh,  it  will  interest  the  reader  to  peruse  the  fol- 
lowing account  of  a  visit  of  some  of  the  par- 
ticipants in  the  battle,  just  47  years  after. 

The  National  Association  of  the  Survivors  of 
the  Battle  of  Shiloh  held  their  annual  reunion 
on  the  battle  field  of  Shiloh,  April  6  and  7, 1909. 
Sixty-six  veterans,  with  their  wives  and  sons 
and  daughters,  boarded  the  steamer  "Santillo" 
at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  April  2,  1909,  and  started  for 
Pittsburg  Landing,  Tenn.  On  the  morning  of 
April  6,  1909,  we  landed  at  Pittsburg  Landing, 
Tenn.  Upon  the  bluff  is  the  National  Ceme- 
tery, where  4,000  Union  soldiers  lie  buried,  most 
of  the  head  stones  bearing  the  name  "Un- 
known." It  is  a  beautiful  cemetery,  overlook- 
ing the  Tennessee  Eiver.  The  farmers  from  the 
surrounding  country  were  there  with  their 
hacks  and  carryalls  ready  to  be  engaged  for  a 

81 


82  SHILOH 

reasonable  sum  to  take  the  Northern  visitors  all 
over  the  battle  field.  Our  party  secured  a 
rancher  with  a  big  wagon  drawn  by  a  pair  of 
lazy  mules  (our  objective  point  being  the  camp 
of  the  regiment  of  which  we  were  members), 
over  fine  made,  drained  roads,  and  although  it 
had  rained  heavily  the  night  before,  the  roads 
were  dry  and  clear  of  mud.  We  found  a  Na- 
tional Park  of  nearly  4,000  acres,  laid  out  with 
roads  in  every  direction ;  we  found  monuments 
everywhere,  as  well  as  markers  and  tablets,  de- 
noting the  camp  of  every  regiment  and  differ- 
ent positions  held  by  each  regiment  and  battery 
in  the  great  battle  of  April  6  and  7, 1862.  Great 
credit  is  due  the  Park  Commissioners  and 
Major  D.  W.  Reed  (of  the  12th  Iowa  Regiment), 
Secretary  and  Historian,  for  their  magnificent 
work  in  making  this  beauty  spot  in  Tennessee. 
Monuments  have  been  erected  by  the  different 
states  in  honor  of  their  troops  taking  part  in 
the  battle.  The  South  have  also  erected  monu- 


SHILOH  83 

ments  to  the  memory  of  the  Confederate  troops. 
The  Alabama  state  monument  was  dedicated 
on  April  7,  1909,  both  northern  and  southern 
men  and  women  participating.    The  Daughters 
of  the  Confederacy  of  Alabama  had  sent  flow- 
ers and  a  request  that  the  ladies  from  the  North 
would  place  them  upon  the  monument,  which 
the  Chicago,  Iowa  and  South  Dakota  ladies  did. 
A  prayer  was  offered  and  Capt.  Irwin,  an  ex- 
Confederate,  made  an  address,  and  he  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  Union  veteran,  eulogizing  "Old 
Glory."    Then  a  young  man  from  the  South 
spoke,  saying  among  other  things  that  he  was 
glad  he  lived  today  instead  of  forty-seven  years 
ago,  for  now,  if  the  United  States  were  called 
to  a  war,  the  North  and  South  would  go  side  by 
side,  defending  their  common  country.     And 
then  the  company  sang  "  Nearer,  My  God,  to 
Thee." 

The  two  days  at   Shiloh  battle  field  were 
filled  with  intense  interest  to  all  who  were  pres- 


84  SHILOH 

ent,  especially  the  veterans  who  took  part  in  the 
battle ;  and  where  it  happened  that  two  or  more 
members  of  the  same  regiment  were  present 
they  would  hunt  up  their  camp  ground  and  then 
find  the  different  positions  they  held  in  the  bat- 
tle line  of  those  days,  and  standing  on  the  same 
ground  as  then,  live  in  memory  again  the  terri- 
ble scenes  of  the  long  ago.  The  battle  line  of 
April  6  and  7,  1862,  is  about  three  miles  in 
length  and  we  visited  most  every  part  of  the 
field,  including  the  most  noted  places,  viz. :  the 
"Hornet's  Nest"  and  the  "Bloody  Pond." 

To  those  of  our  party  who  wended  their  way 
to  Shiloh  church,  where  the  battle  began,  a 
unique  experience  awaited  us.  On  April  6 
(there  being  about  twenty-five  from  the  boat 
present),  upon  coming  in  sight  of  the  church, 
we  beheld  the  citizens  of  the  surrounding  coun- 
try, with  their  wives  and  children,  gathered 
from  miles  around.  The  Albert  Sidney  John- 
ston Camp  of  Confederate  Veterans  were  hold- 


SHILOH  85 

ing  their  semi-annual  meeting,  in  the  church, 
there  being  present  probably  twenty-five  veter- 
ans. We  were  met  by  the  veterans  of  the  Con- 
federate army  with  a  glad  shake  and  a  cordial 
invitation  to  remain  to  dinner  with  them,  which 
was  accepted,  and  we  did  enjoy  their  fried 
chicken  and  all  the  other  good  things.  The  din- 
ner was  eaten  with  the  sauce  of  reminiscences 
and  repartee  between  the  blue  and  the  gray. 
We  will  give  you  one  little  incident  in  which 
the  Union  veteran  seemed  to  get  the  Worst  of 
it.  Noticing  the  leanness  of  the  ex-Confeder- 
ates, the  Union  veteran  said:  " Johnnie,  how 
is  it  all  you  fellows  look  so  lean,  as  though  you 
hadn't  enough  to  eat?"  The  ex-Confederate, 
on  a  wooden  leg,  made  quick  reply:  "Well, 
Yank,  you  see  it's  this  way.  You-uns  shot  us 
onto  crutches  and  we-uns  shot  you-uns  on  the 
pension  roll."  After  many  a  joke  and  story 
of  the  battle,  the  people  adjourned  to  the  church 
for  services,  the  church  being  filled.  Gen.  Basil 


86  SHILOH 

Duke,  one  of  the  Shiloh  Park  Commissioners, 
gave  a  fine  address,  giving  his  experience  in  the 
battle  of  Shiloh,  where  he  was  wounded.  He 
was  in  Morgan's  command  of  the  Confederate 
army.  Among  other  things  he  said : 

"We  fought  in  the  Civil  War  for  the  cause 
we  thought  was  right.  We  believed  the  rights 
guaranteed  to  us  under  the  constitution  were 
being  taken  away  from  us,  and  you  must  admit 
that  our  love  for  our  homes  and  property  is  as 
dear  to  us  of  the  South  as  it  is  to  you  of  the 
North.  The  people  of  the  North  believed  that 
to  divide  the  United  States  would  destroy  this 
Nation.  Time  has  proved  under  the  providence 
of  God  that  the  judgment  of  the  North  was  cor- 
rect, for  had  we  succeeded  in  establishing  the 
Confederate  States  of  America,  no  doubt  later 
on  other  states  would  have  felt  aggrieved  on 
some  question  and  would  have  seceeded,  and  in 
time,  had  our  cause  won,  this  nation  would 
have  been  divided  into  a  great  many  small  prin- 


SHILOH  87 

cipalities  governing  themselves.  Now  the  is- 
sues for  the  weal  of  this  great  Nation  are  as 
dear  to  us  of  the  South  as  you  of  the  North." 

Gen.  Duke  closed  his  address  by  saying  that : 
"We  all  rejoice  at  the  fraternal  feelings  now 
existing  between  the  North  and  the  South,  and 
hope  that  ever  these  bonds  of  love  and  good 
will  between  us  may  grow  and  cement  us  to- 
gether, stronger  and  stronger,  and  we  shall  con- 
tinue to  prosper  and  enjoy  the  rights  and  priv- 
ileges of  this  great  Nation." 

W.  F.  Crummer,  of  Chicago,  111.,  on  behalf 
of  the  boys  in  blue  and  their  friends,  responded, 
contrasting  the  scenes  of  47  years  ago  with  those 
of  today.  He  said  in  part:  "It  was  a  beauti- 
ful Sabbath  morning,  April  6,  1862.  The  birds 
were  singing  among  the  trees  and  nature  was 
putting  forth  her  verdure  of  green,  when  sud- 
denly the  booming  of  cannon,  the  shrieking  of 
shells  and  the  rattle  of  musketry  heralded  the 
beginning  of  one  of  the  most  terrible  battles  of 


88  SHILOH 

the  Civil  War.  I  will  not  take  the  time  to  re- 
late all  my  experiences  of  that  battle,  but  simply 
say  this,  that  when,  on  Monday  evening,  we  had 
regained  our  camp,  we  found  a  few  Sibley  tents 
all  riddled  with  shot  and  shell,  and  while  you, 
ex-Confederates  here,  had  possession  of  our 
camp  you  took  my  knapsack,  blanket,  the  testa- 
ment my  mother  gave  me,  which  I  hope  you 
read  and  profited  thereby.  You  are  welcome 
to  that,  but  one  thing  you  took  made  me  feel 
badly,  and  that  was  the  picture  of  the  girl  I  left 
behind  me,  and  I  am  here  today  to  ask  you  to 
return  that  picture.  The  scene  of  that  awful 
field  of  carnage  and  bloodshed  changes.  Today, 
after  47  years  have  rolled  by,  the  birds  are 
singing  in  the  trees  and  nature  is  putting  forth 
its  green  as  then,  and  all  is  peaceful,  and  in- 
stead of  cannon  and  bullets  greeting  us  you 
meet  us  with  open  hands  and  extend  to  us  a 
cordial  greeting  and  your  bountiful  hospitality. 
Our  hearts  are  moved  and  we  thank  you  most 


SHILOH  89 

heartily.  We  rejoice  with  you  that  today  we 
know  no  North,  no  South,  no  East,  no  West, 
but  a  reunited  country,  with  one  flag  and  one  na- 
tion, the  grandest  Nation  on  the  earth.  We 
trust  that  we  shall  always  remain  a  happy  and 
prosperous  people,  both  North  and  South,  work- 
ing together  for  the  good  of  the  entire  coun- 
try. The  feeling  of  good  fellowship  shown  us 
today  indicates  that  we  are  one  in  spirit  and 
love  for  our  Nation.  May  we  all  so  live  that 
when  the  roll  is  called  up  yonder  we  may  an- 
swer 'Here,'  and  enter  into  the  heavenly  land 
our  God  has  prepared  for  us.  Again  thanking 
you  for  your  most  kindly  greeting  and  hospi- 
tality, I  bid  you  Godspeed  until  we  meet  again. ' ' 
The  meeting  was  dismissed  in  a  novel  man- 
ner. All  rose  and,  shaking  hands,  sang  as  they 
marched  around  the  church,  to  a  Southern 
melody:  ''It's  All  Over  Now;  It's  All  Over 
Now,"  and  with  many  a  "Come  and  see  us 


90  SHILOH 

again, ' '  the  veterans  and  their  friends  from  the 
North  bade  their  Tennessee  friends  a  hearty 
good  bye. 


VICKSBURG 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

A  half  of  a  century  has  passed  since  the 
memorable  Vicksburg  campaign  of  the  Civil 
War  began  in  the  year  1863. 

It  was  my  lot  to  take  part  in  the  Vicksburg 
campaign,  and,  in  giving  some  reminiscences  of 
that  siege,  I  must  speak  from  the  standpoint  of 
a  soldier  of  the  45th  Illinois  Kegiment,  Gen. 
Logan 's  division  in  Gen.  McPherson's  17th 
Army  Corps,  being  a  part  of  Gen.  Grant's  army. 
Before  taking  you  to  the  actual  siege  we  must 
carry  you  with  the  army  from  Milliken's  Bend 
on  the  Louisiana  shore  above  Vicksburg  round 
on  the  west  side  of  the  Mississippi  River  to 
Bruinsburg,  70  miles  below  Vicksburg,  and  tell 
you  of  the  marches  and  battles  we  had  before 
we  entered  the  city.  In  the  spring  of  1863  we 
find  Gen.  Grant  and  his  army  of  30,000  men  en- 
camped at  Milliken's  Bend.  We  could  not  cross 
the  river  at  that  point  and  attack  Vicksburg 

91 


92  VICKSBURG 

from  the  north,  inasmuch  as  a  large  portion  of 
that  country  was  an  impassable  swamp.  The 
first  plan  devised  was  to  cut  a  canal  to  the  west, 
thereby  changing  the  current  of  the  river,  by 
which  it  was  proposed  to  carry  troops,  forage 
and  ammunition  by  transports  south  of  Vicks- 
burg,  but  this  scheme  proved  ineffectual  and 
was  abandoned.  Where  Vicksburg  stands,  the 
cliffs  rise  abruptly  from  the  water's  edge  200 
feet.  Twenty-eight  heavy  guns  were  mounted 
on  the  river  front,  all  of  which  had  a  plunging 
fire.  Our  gunboats  could  not  elevate  their  guns 
to  do  them  any  damage.  Vicksburg  was  im- 
pregnable from  the  north  and  the  river  front. 
Jeff  Davis  said :  '  *  Vicksburg  is  the  Gibralter  of 
America."  By  the  way,  speaking  of  Jeff  Davis 
reminds  me  he  had  a  plantation  not  far  from 
Vicksburg.  Soon  after  the  Yankees  reached 
that  vicinity,  Jeff's  slaves  deserted  him,  bag  and 
baggage,  and  a  queer  lot  of  contrabands  they 
were,  indeed. 


VICKSBURG  93 

Notice  the  daring  plan  of  Gen.  Grant,  namely, 
to  take  his  army  around  on  the  Louisiana  shore 
to  a  point  south  of  Vicksburg,  cross  the  river, 
cut  loose  from  his  base  of  supplies  and  enter  the 
enemy's  country. 

Gen.  Grant  devised  the  plan  to  have  Admiral 
Porter's  gunboats  and  several  steamboats, 
loaded  with  rations  and  ammunition,  run  the 
batteries  at  Vicksburg  and  be  ready  to  trans- 
port the  army  across  the  river.  The  first  in- 
timation the  rank  and  file  had  of  such  a  thing 
was  a  notice  that  our  Colonel  received  one  day 
from  the  Commanding  General:  that  volunteers 
were  wanted  to  man  the  steamboats;  to  act  as 
firemen,  engineers,  pilots,  etc.  The  Adjutant 
called  the  regiment  into  line,  and  the  Colonel 
explained  what  was  wanted.  He  told  the  sol- 
diers of  the  dangerous  undertaking ;  that  in  all 
probability  the  steamers  would  be  riddled  with 
shot  and  shell  and  many  might  perish.  Not- 
withstanding all  this,  if  there  were  any  who 


94  VICKSBURG 

would  volunteer  for  this  service,  let  them  step 
three  paces  to  the  front.  Almost  the  entire 
regiment  stepped  to  the  front.  There  was  one 
Lieutenant  who  did  not  step  to  the  front.  Suf- 
fice it  to  say  he  was  never  promoted.  The  rea- 
son is  obvious.  The  Colonel  then  told  the  Cap- 
tains to  select  those  who  had  had  some  experi- 
ence on  the  river,  and  enough  men  were  found 
to  man  a  hundred  steamers.  There  was  one 
of  those  brave  volunteers  of  our  regiment — 
Charlie  Evans — who  held  to  the  pilot  wheel, 
when  a  cannon  ball  went  crashing  through  the 
pilot  house,  driving  pieces  of  timber  against 
him  with  such  force  that  he  never  fully  recov- 
ered, and  a  few  years  after  we  buried  him  at 
Galena,  111.  Now  the  boats  are  loaded  and 
manned  by  those  brave  boys  from  the  North- 
ern prairies.  All  is  ready,  the  night  is  propi- 
tious, the  signal  is  given  and  Admiral  Porter's 
flotilla  of  gunboats  and  steamers  start  down  the 
river  on  the  16th  day  of  April,  1863,  to  run 


VICKSBURG  95 

that  storm  of  fire  and  iron  hail.  The  enemy 
endeavored  to  send  those  boats  and  their  heroic 
crews  to  "Davy  Jones'  Locker"  that  night,  but 
with  the  exception  of  one  boat,  the  "Henry 
Clay,"  they  finally  passed  through.  For  two 
hours  and  forty  .minutes  the  fleet  was  under 
fire.  Every  transport  was  struck  and  disabled. 
For  eight  miles  the  enemy's  cannon  hurled  shot 
at  them,  but  the  loss  of  men  was  small  in  killed 
and  wounded.  Now  the  gunboats  and  steam- 
boats have  run  the  rebel  batteries  and  are  be- 
low the  city  ready  to  transport  the  troops  and 
cannon  from  the  west  bank  of  the  river  to  the 
east. 

Prior  to  the  running  of  the  batteries,  many 
of  the  troops  had  marched  down  on  the  Lou- 
isiana side  of  the  river  to  Hard  Times  and 
Bruinsburg,  and  were  waiting  for  the  boats  to 
arrive,  with  much  anxiety,  fearful  that  they 
would  not  stand  the  awful  hammering  the 
enemy  would  give  them.  The  first  to  show  up 


96  VICKSBURG 

was  the  burning  wreck  of  the  ''Henry  Clay." 
As  it  floated  by  an  old  southern  man  whose  mag- 
nificent mansion  bordered  the  Mississippi  River, 
rubbed  his  hands  in  glee,  exclaiming,  "Where 
are  your  gunboats  now?  Vicksburg  has  put 
an  end  to  them  all."  Not  long  after  his  jubi- 
lant remark  the  gunboats  appeared  coming 
down  the  river,  and  presently  the  .whole  fleet 
hove  in  sight;  then  the  boys,  turning  to  the 
haughty  Southerner,  said:  "Did  Vicksburg 
put  an  end  to  them  all?"  The  old  man  was  too 
mad  to  endure  the  taunts,  and  turning  away, 
hid  himself.  The  next  day  he  set  fire  to  his 
own  home  rather  than  allow  it  to  shelter  his 
fancied  enemies. 

About  this  time  there  was  excitement  in  Rich- 
mond and  Washington.  The  Confederate  gov- 
ernment was  amazed  that  their  "Gibralter" 
should  have  been  passed  by  the  ' '  Yankee ' '  fleet 
of  gunboats.  At  Washington,  consternation 
took  hold  of  the  officers  at  the  war  office.  Gen. 


VICKSBUBG  97 

Grant  had  not  informed  Gen.  Halleck  of  his 
plans  as  to  the  capture  of  Vicksburg.  Halleck 
was  angry  and  sent  a  dispatch  ordering  Gen. 
Grant  to  turn  back,  but  the  dispatch  failed  to 
reach  its  destination.  There  had  been  a  de- 
termined effort  made  at  Washington  by  some 
Senators  and  Governors  and  friends  of  other 
Generals,  to  have  Grant  removed  from  his  com- 
mand ;  but  President  Lincoln  said  to  them :  '  *  I 
rather  like  the  man;  I  think  we'll  try  him  a 
little  longer. ' '  So,  because  of  the  faith  of  Lin- 
coln in  Grant's  ability,  it  became  possible  for 
him  to  make  that  most  remarkable  campaign 
and  capture  of  Vicksburg.  I  believe  it  is  a 
fact,  that  now,  in  the  military  schools  of  Europe, 
the  military  campaign  of  Gen.  Grant  at  Vicks- 
burg is  studied  and  considered  by  authorities 
as  one  of  the  most  daring  and  brilliantly  exe- 
cuted movements  in  modern  warfare. 

Now  for  the  campaign  as  seen  from  a  sol- 
dier's view.  The  army  has  been  conveyed 
across  the  river.  The  enemy  falls  back  to  Port 


98  VICKSBURG 

Gibson,  burning  the  bridges  across  the  Bayou 
Pierre.  The  loss  of  the  bridges  does  not  delay 
the  army  very  long,  for  we  are  supplied  with 
boats  or  pontoons;  with  these,  in  addition  to 
lumber  from  fences,  houses  and  barns,  a  bridge 
is  soon  built.  After  crossing  the  pontoon  bridge 
we  soon  encountered  the  enemy  at  Thompson 
Hill  or  Port  Gibson.  A  sharp  fight  ensues,  but 
the  enemy  is  soon  routed  and  retreats.  During 
our  fight  at  Thompson  Hill  we  had  with  us  that 
day  a  Congressman  from  the  North.  He  had 
a  horse  and  was  riding  with  our  Colonel  when 
the  quick  rattle  of  musketry  in  our  front  was 
heard.  The  order  was  quickly  given  and  we 
were  moving  forward  in  line  of  battle.  Pres- 
ently the  usual  noisy  introduction  of  the  sharp 
crack  of  the  musket  and  the  whiz  of  the  minie- 
ball  opened  the  exercises.  There  was  a  deep 
ravine  a  little  in  our  rear.  The  Congressman 
or  his  horse  was  very  tired  and  remained  in 
the  ravine  until  he  heard  the  wild  cheer  of  our 


VICKSBURG  99 

victorious  charge,  when  he  came  out  of  that 
ravine  on  the  gallop,  swinging  his  hat  and 
shouting :  * '  Give  it  to  'em,  boys. ' '  It  was  safe 
then.  But  you  couldn't  blame  him  much.  He 
wasn't  getting  the  enormous  sum  of  $13  per 
month  to  be  shot  at.  A  Congressman's  salary 
didn't  justify  the  sacrifice  of  being  riddled  with 
bullets. 

Three  days'  rations  are  issued  to  the  sol- 
diers and  this  we  are  told  must  sustain  us  for 
the  next  five  days.  The  march  is  then  resumed. 
On  May  12th,  at  11  o  'clock,  we  meet  the  enemy, 
5,000  strong,  at  Raymond,  and  the  fight  is 
opened  by  the  artillery  and  a  sharp  battle  is 
fought.  The  enemy  charge  our  lines,  but  are 
repulsed,  the  fighting  continuing  until  about  2 
o'clock  p.  m.,  when  the  order  for  a  charge  is 
given  and  forward  with  a  cheer  the  boys  go, 
the  enemy  breaking  and  retreating.  We  occupy 
the  town  of  Raymond  that  night.  The  dead 
are  buried;  the  wounded  are  cared  for  and  by 


100  VICKSBUEQ 

daybreak  the  next  morning  we  are  on  the  march, 
headed  for  Jackson,  Miss.,  to  clean  out  Gen. 
Johnston,  and  his  army  that  he  has  concen- 
trated at  that  place.  Our  rations  are  getting 
short,  but  the  country  affords  us  a  fair  supply 
of  some  things,  such  as  fresh  pigs,  chickens  and 
vegetables,  which  we  take  as  a  matter  of  crip- 
pling the  enemy  as  well  as  to  satisfy  the  hun- 
gry boys  in  blue.  Our  march  begins  at  4  o  'clock 
in  the  morning.  One  day  we  marched  all  day 
in  the  drizzling  rain  and  at  night  when  we 
camped  we  were  wet  to  the  skin,  hungry  and 
tired,  but  not  one  word  of  grumbling  could  be 
heard.  On  May  14,  1863,  we  arrive  at  the  out- 
skirts of  Jackson  and  meet  the  enemy.  During 
the  battle  at  Jackson  a  rather  amusing  inci- 
dent happened.  We  were  in  line  of  battle  and 
had  moved  up  to  the  vicinity  of  a  plantation 
around  which  were  scattered  a  number  of  bee 
hives.  Now,  had  we  not  been  engaged  with  the 
enemy,  our  boys  would  have  liked  nothing  bet- 


VICKSBTTRG  .    101 

ter  than  to  have  despoiled  those  bees  and 
supped  on  honey,  but  for  the  present  we  had  im- 
portant work  on  hand.  The  bees  were  quiet 
enough  until  the  minie-balls  went  crashing 
through  their  hives,  when  they  came  out  and 
rushed  at  us  with  terrible  ferocity.  Men  can 
stand  up  and  be  shot  at,  all  day,  with  the  deadly 
musket,  but  when  a  swarm  of  bees  pounces 
upon  a  company  of  men  in  concert,  it's  beyond 
human  nature  to  stand  it,  and  so  two  or  three 
companies  retired  from  the  field.  In  fact,  our 
lines  were  re-formed  in  that  particular  locality 
so  as  to  avoid  those  Southern  bees.  They  had 
no  "rebel  yell,"  but  their  charge  on  us  was  a 
successful  one.  We  sometimes  captured  things 
we  did  not  want.  At  Jackson  we  captured  a 
smallpox  hospital  and  its  inmates.  We  didn't 
want  it,  you  may  be  sure,  for  everybody  kept 
at  a  respectful  distance  from  it. 

The  battle  of  Jackson  is  fought,  the  final 
charge  is  made  and  the  city  is  ours,  Gen.  Johns- 
ton and  his  army  retreating  to  the  north  and 


102  VICKSBURG 

east.  The  final  charge  made  by  the  Iowa  boys 
under  Gen.  Crocker  of  Iowa,  was  one  of  the 
most  superb  and  gallant  of  the  war.  Gen.  Grant 
said  that,  with  the  exception  of  Sherman  and 
Sheridan,  Gen.  Crocker  was  the  best  division 
commander  in  the  army.  We  are  now  80  miles 
from  Grand  Gulf  and  50  miles  east  of  Vicks- 
burg.  Immediately  the  army  is  wheeled  about 
and  faced  toward  Vicksburg,  and  the  march 
commences  to  that  city. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

On  May  16, 1863,  at  Champion  Hill,  the  enemy 
was  encountered,  strongly  stationed,  on  a  series 
of  ridges  or  hills,  naturally  well  adapted  for 
defensive  purposes.  Here  we  met  Gen.  Pem- 
berton's  army  of  over  40,000  men  coming  out 
of  the  entrenched  position  in  the  city  to  make 
mince  meat  of  Gran't  army.  The  battle  opened 
early  in  the  forenoon  and  raged  for  half  a  day, 
in  which  only  15,000  soldiers,  or  a  portion  of 
Grant's  army,  was  engaged.  It  was  one  of  the 
hard-fought  battles  of  the  war  and  one  of  the 
most  bloody.  The  battle  was  mainly  fought  by 
McPherson's  17th  Army  Corps  and  Hovey's 
division  of  the  13th  Corps. 

Gen.  Logan's  charge  on  the  extreme  right, 
about  three  o  'clock  in  the  afternoon,  was  one  of 
the  finest  charges  of  troops  that  I  witnessed 
during  the  war,  and  I  was  in  nine  different  bat- 
tles. It  has  been  said  that  at  the  battle  of 

103 


104  VICKSBURG 

Champion  Hill  for  a  time  there  was  as  fierce 
fighting  as  any  seen  in  the  west.  The  colors 
of  my  regiment  were  riddled  with  bullets  and 
our  color  guards  were  all  killed  or  wounded. 
About  three  o'clock  the  enemy  gave  way  and 
commenced  a  retreat  towards  Vicksburg. 

After  driving  the  enemy  from  the  field  those 
engaged  all  day  were  tired  out  and  halted  for  a 
time  on  the  battle  field.  I  would  like  to  por- 
tray the  scene  that  we  gazed  upon.  It  was  a 
horrible  picture  and  one  that  I  carry  with  me 
to  this  day.  All  around  us  lay  the  dead  and  dy- 
ing, amid  the  groans  and  cries  of  the  wounded. 
Our  surgeons  came  up  quickly  and,  taking  pos- 
session of  a  farm  house,  converted  it  into  a  hos- 
pital, and  we  began  to  carry  ours  and  the 
enemy's  wounded  to  the  surgeons.  There  they 
lay,  the  blue  and  the  gray  intermingled;  the 
same  rich,  young  American  blood  flowing  out 
in  little  rivulets  of  crimson;  each  thinking  he 
was  in  the  right ;  the  one  conscious  of  it  today, 


VICKSBURG  105 

the  other  admitting  now  it  were  best  the  Union 
should  be  maintained  one  and  inseparable.  The 
surgeons  made  no  preference  as  to  which  should 
be  first  treated;  the  blue  and  the  gray  took 
their  turn  before  the  surgeon's  knife.  What 
heroes  some  of  those  fellows  were;  with  not  a 
murmer  or  word;  with  no  anaesthetic  to  sooth 
the  agony,  but  gritting  their  teeth,  they  bore  the 
pain  of  the  knife  and  saw,  while  arms  and  legs 
were  being  severed  from  their  bodies.  There 
was  just  one  case  that  was  an  exception  to  the 
rule.  He  was  a  fine-looking  officer  and  Colonel 
of  some  Louisiana  regiment  of  the  Confederate 
army.  He  had  been  shot  through  the  leg  and 
was  making  a  great  ado  about  it.  Dr.  Kittoe, 
of  our  regiment,  examined  it  and  said  it  must 
be  amputated ;  the  poor  fellow  cried  and  howled : 
"Oh,  I  never  can  go  home  to  my  wife  on  one 
leg.  Oh,  oh,  it  must  not  be. "  "  Well, ' '  said  the 
gruff  old  surgeon,  "that,  or  not  go  home  at 
all."  The  Colonel  finally  said  yes,  and  in  a 


106  VICKSBURG 

few  minutes  he  was  in  a  condition  (if  lie  got 
well)  to  wear  a  wooden  leg  when  he  went  home 
to  his  wife. 

The  enemy  are  retreating  to  the  city  to  get 
behind  the  breastworks,  and  Grant's  army  is 
pushing  them  right  along  every  day.  It  is 
twenty  days  now  since  the  campaign  began.  In 
that  time  the  army  has  marched  nearly  200 
miles,  beaten  two  armies  in  five  different  bat- 
tles, captured  27  heavy  cannon  and  61  pieces 
of  field  artillery;  taken  6,500  prisoners  and 
killed  and  wounded  at  least  6,000  of  the  enemy. 
Starting  without  teams  and  with  an  average  of 
three  days'  rations  in  the  haversacks,  we  sub- 
sisted principally  on  forage  found  in  the  coun- 
try. Only  five  days'  rations  had  been  issued 
in  twenty  days.  Still,  neither  suffering  nor 
complaint  was  witnessed  in  the  command.  The 
army  was  in  fine  condition,  so  Gen.  Grant  said. 
Since  it  had  left  Milliken  's  Bend  it  had  marched 
by  day  and  night,  through  mud  and  rain,  with- 


VICKSBURG  107 

out  tents  and  on  irregular  rations.  Gen.  Grant 
said  then:  "My  force  is  composed  of  hardy 
and  disciplined  men,  who  know  no  defeat  and 
are  not  willing  to  learn  what  it  is."  Well,  if 
marching  day  and  night  in  the  mud  and  rain, 
on  short  rations,  made  us  hardy,  I  reckon  he 
told  the  truth.  I  tell  you  today,  after  50  years 
have  passed,  I  can  remember  the  gnawing  of 
hunger  on  that  memorable  march,  and  I  recollect 
one  day  spying  a  piece  of  bacon  rind  at  the 
road  side,  which  some  more  fortunate  soldier 
had  thrown  away,  and  grabbing  it  as  a  great 
treasure  I  removed  the  dirt  and  ate  it  with  a 
ravenous  appetite.  Before  we  get  to  Vicksburg 
we  must  have  another  battle  at  the  Big  Black 
River.  The  enemy  were  discovered  in  force, 
strongly  posted  near  the  bridge.  The  day  was 
hot  and  Gen.  Lawler,  who  was  rushing  around 
in  his  snirt  sleeves,  discovered  that  by  moving 
one  portion  of  his  brigade  through  the  brush 
under  cover  of  the  river  bank,  the  remainder 


108  VICKSBURG 

to  push  directly  against  the  left  flank  of  the 
enemy,  he  could  reach  a  position  where  he  would 
be  able  to  carry  the  works  by  storm.  As  soon 
as  his  troops  were  properly  placed,  Gen.  Law- 
ler  led  his  boys  in  blue  in  a  magnificent  charge, 
capturing  one  entire  brigade  of  the  enemy,  and 
forcing  the  remainder  to  beat  a  hasty  retreat 
to  Vicksburg. 

On  May  18,  1863,  Gen.  Grant's  army  invested 
the  enemy's  defenses  of  Vicksburg  and  then 
commenced  a  siege  that  lasted  for  47  days,  an 
account  of  which  it  is  my  purpose  to  give  as 
concisely  as  possible.  The  enemy's  breast- 
works encircled  the  city  somewhat  in  the  shape 
of  a  horseshoe,  being  about  eight  miles  in  length. 
The  ground  around  the  city  is  very  rough ;  steep 
hills,  deep  gullies,  underbrush,  cane  and  wil- 
lows and  everything  to  impede  the  army.  Gen. 
Grant,  with  about  30,000  men,  had  cooped  up 
Gen.  Pemberton  and  his  army  of  over  35,000 
men.  (Seven  weeks  later  P.  surrendered  30,- 


VICKSBURG  109 

000  men.)  Soon  after  Gen.  Grant  had  assigned 
his  several  Corps  Commanders  to  their  places 
(Gen.  Sherman  being  on  the  right,  Gen.  Mc- 
Pherson  in  the  center  and  Gen.  McClernand  on 
the  left),  several  charges  were  made  at  differ- 
ent points  on  the  line,  but  owing  to  the  strong 
forts  and  entrenchments,  the  enemy  repulsed 
us  with  heavy  loss.  The  union  lines,  however, 
are  advanced,  positions  for  artillery  are  se- 
lected, and  the  daily  duel  of  the  sharpshooters 
is  opened  up  in  the  immediate  front. 

After  so  much  marching  and  fighting,  the 
boys  in  blue  are  weary  and  hungry,  and  a  few 
days'  rest  is  granted  the  men,  that  they  may 
attend  to  some  washing  and  cleaning  up.  Very 
few  of  us  had  a  second  shirt  to  wear.  Toward 
the  close  of  the  war  but  few  carried  knapsacks ; 
it  wasn't  necessary.  It  is  related  of  an  Irish- 
man that,  upon  being  asked  why  he  didn't  go 
to  the  Quartermaster  and  draw  a  knapsack,  re- 
plied: "An'  what  do  I  want  a  knapsack 


110  VICKSBURG 

for?"  "Why,  to  put  your  clothes  in,  Pat." 
"Sure,  an'  if  I  should  go  on  dress  parade  wid 
me  clothes  in  me  knapsack  the  Colonel  would 
be  after  puttin'  me  in  the  guard  house."  May 
21st  we  are  furnished  with  a  good  square  meal 
by  Uncle  Sam — if  hard  tack,  sow  bacon,  beans 
and  coffee  can  be  called  a  square  meal.  We  so 
considered  it  after  the  hardships  of  the  last 
month.  And  having  been  strengthened  in  the 
inner  man  with  plenty  of  food,  Gen.  Grant  pro- 
poses to  carry  Vicksburg  by  storm  on  the  mor- 
row, May  22,  1863.  Shall  we  ever  forget  that 
desperate  charge?  No,  and  I  believe  had  Gen. 
Grant  known  at  the  time  how  strongly  the  en- 
emy were  entrenched  and  how  valiantly  they 
would  fight,  he  would  never  have  ordered  that 
charge.  He  thought,  no  doubt,  as  we  soldiers 
believed,  that  having  been  so  successful  in  meet- 
ing the  enemy  recently,  we  could  whip  any 
armed  force  that  opposed  us.  May  22,  1863, 
the  order  was  given  to  commence  the  attack  at 


VICKSBUKG  .    Ill 

10  o'clock.  At  that  hour  the  battle  opened; 
every  piece  of  artillery  was  brought  to  bear 
on  the  works;  sharpshooters  at  the  same  time 
began  their  part;  nothing  could  be  heard  but 
the  continual  shrieking  of  shells,  the  booming 
of  cannon  and  the  sharp  whiz  of  the  minie-ball. 
At  the  time  the  assault  was  attempted  our  biv- 
ouac was  in  a  ravine  just  east  of  the  "  White 
House,"  or  "Shirley  House."  Running  in 
front  of  the  house  was  the  main  Jackson  wagon 
road  leading  into  the  city.  For  about  five  hun- 
dred yards  the  road  had  been  cut  down  in  the 
ridge  to  a  depth  of  a  man's  head,  then  the  ridge 
sloped  a  little  and  the  road  opened  out  in  plain 
view  of  the  forts  of  the  enemy  not  200  yards 
distant.  We  marched  in  columns  of  four 
through  this  cut  in  the  road  until  we  reached 
the  point  where  we  would  be  exposed  to  the 
enemy's  guns,  then  we  were  to  deploy  to  the 
left  along  the  slope  of  the  hill,  until  the  entire 
regiment  was  out  of  the  road,  when  at  the  word 


112  VICKSBURG 

of  the  commanding  officer — "By  the  right  flank, 
charge" — we  were  to  go  over  the  enemy's 
works.  As  we  came  out  of  that  road  Major 
Cowan  gave  the  command,  "double  quick,"  and 
we  started  across  that  open  space.  Major 
Cowan,  commanding  the  regiment,  fell  at  the 
first  volley  from  the  enemy,  having  only  taken 
a  step  or  two. 

The  enemy  was  watching  and  the  instant  we 
appeared  in  sight  they  opened  into  us  an  awful 
volley  of  shot  and  shell.  There  was  no  one  to 
give  the  command  to  halt,  or  right  face  and 
charge ;  the  Major  was  killed  and  the  ranking 
Captain  didn't  know  it.  We  went  as  far  in  that 
hail  of  death  as  we  thought  would  be  sufficient 
for  the  regiment  to  form  in  line  of  battle,  and 
then  we  dropped  flat  on  the  ground.  Being 
First  Sergeant  of  Company  A  of  my  regiment, 
I  was  at  the  head  of  the  regiment  with  Major 
Cowan  when  we  started  across  that  deadly  piece 
of  open  ground,  the  Major  falling  by  my  side, 


VICKSBUEG  113 

but  I  kept  right  on  at  the  head  of  the  regiment 
until  space  enough  was  given  the  regiment  to 
form  in  line  under  the  brow  of  the  hill.    .The 
ground  sloped  down  hill  from  the  enemy's  para- 
pet, and  by  flattening  one's  self  about  as  flat  as 
a  hard  tack,  he  was  comparatively  safe  from 
the  musketry  fire  of  the  enemy.    The  regiment 
came  through,  but  the  dead  and  wounded  lay 
thick  over  that  stretch  of  200  yards.    The  order 
to  charge  the  works  was,  after  a  short  time, 
given  by  the  ranking  Captain,  and  we  started 
up  the  hill,  to  be  met  by  a  sweeping  volley  of 
musketry  at  short  range,  which  mowed  the  men 
down  in  bunches.    We  could  not  return  the  fire, 
for  the  enemy  were  safe  behind  their  breast- 
works. Some  of  our  men  reached  the  top  of  the 
parapet,  but  fell  as  fast  as  they  climbed  up. 
No  troops  could  face  such  a  destructive  fire 
from  a  protected  enemy.    Presently  the  order 
is  given  to  fall  back,  and  we  retire  under  the 
brow  of  the  hill  and  remain  there  until  after 


114  VICKSBURG 

dark,  when  we  took  our  usual  place  in  the  rear 
of  the  '  *  White  House. ' '  The  charge  of  my  regi- 
ment is  but  a  picture  of  all  other  regiments 
that  took  part  on  that  day.  The  assault  was  no 
more  successful  at  other  points  of  the  line,  and 
the  Union  army  suffered  great  loss.  The  works 
were  strongly  constructed  and  well  arranged  to 
sweep  the  approaches  in  every  direction;  their 
position  was  too  strong,  both  naturally  and  arti- 
ficially, to  be  taken  by  storm.  Wherever  the 
assault  was  attempted,  the  hillsides  were  cov- 
ered with  the  slain  and  wounded,  many  of  them 
lying  in  the  hot  sun  during  the  day  crying  for 
water,  which  could  not  be  taken  to  them.  Three 
thousand  Union  soldiers  were  killed  or  wounded 
in  this  disastrous  charge ;  more  men  in  this  one 
charge  were  lost  than  were  lost  during  the  late 
Spanish  War.  The  army  was  now  made  sadly 
sure  that  over  ground  so  rough  and  with  such 
strong  forts  and  entrenchments  it  could  not 
hope  to  carry  Vicksburg  by  storm.  It  clearly 


VICKSBURG  115 

proved  the  great  advantage  an  army  has  in  hav- 
ing breastworks  and  entrenchments  to  cope  with 
the  enemy.  Gen.  Grant  had  had  such  wonder- 
ful success  so  far  that  he  really  thought  his 
troops  could  walk  right  up  to  and  inside  those 
fortifications.  But  the  fact  has  been  demon- 
strated that  the  loss  of  precious  lives  would  be 
too  great,  and  preparations  for  a  siege  were  be- 
gun and  the  pick  and  shovel  were  brought  into 
requisition.  Saps  and  rifle  trenches  were  con- 
structed and  in  these  our  sharpshooters  were 
continually  on  the  lookout  for  the  hidden  enemy. 
Before  we  had  constructed  outer  rifle  pits  so 
as  to  make  them  corparatively  safe,  our  boys 
with  their  bayonets  and  a  tin  plate,  dug  little 
holes  in  the  ground  and  on  top  of  the  earth 
placed  a  few  fence  rails.  Between  these  rails 
our  men  could  pick  off  the  sharpshooters  of  the 
enemy  and  many  a  duel  was  had  here  between 
the  pickets  of  the  two  armies. 


CHAPTER  X. 

The  duels  between  the  sharpshooters  of  the 
two  armies  were  fierce  and  deadly.  All  of  us 
like  heroes.  There  were  many  heroes  beside 
the  great  Generals.  Here  is  one  from  the  ranks. 
John  Battle  Harrison  was  wounded  at  Shiloh 
and  again  at  Champion  Hills.  When  told  by  the 
surgeon  to  go  to  the  hospital,  he  refused  and 
remained  fighting  in  the  ranks  with  a  wound 
that  would  have  taken  hundreds  of  others  to 
the  hospital.  This  brave  soldier  was  killed  in 
one  of  the  sharpshooter  duels.  Our  company 
was  on  duty  on  the  skirmish  line  all  day,  and 
we  could  not  bury  him  until  night;  then  dur- 
ing the  dark  hours  of  the  night  we  dug  a  grave 
on  the  hillside,  and  wrapping  his  blanket  around 
him,  We  left  him  to  sleep  until  the  great  re- 
veille is  sounded.  I  thought  that  night  of  the 

117 


118  VICKSBTJRG 

lines  I  used  to  speak  in  school  when  a  boy : 

"Not  a  drum  was  heard,  not  a  funeral  note 
As  his  corpse  to  the  rampart  we  hurried; 
Not  a  soldier  discharged  his  farewell  shot 
O'er  the  grave  where  our  hero  we  buried." 

But  we  must  not  falter  if  our  comrades  do 
fall,  but  take  up  our  duty  of  the  soldier  on  the 
morrow  and  battle  for  the  right.  Now  we  are 
digging  trenches  and  making  breastworks,  as 
well  as  running  a  sap  toward  the  enemy's  lines 
by  using  the  sap-roller.  My  young  friends  may 
ask  what  a  sap-roller  is.  We  boys  used  to  call 
it  a  "bullet-stopper."  Suppose  we  take  two 
empty  barrels  and  lash  them  together,  one  on 
top  of  the  other,  then  wrap  them  'round  and 
'round  with  willow  saplings,  fill  them  'with 
earth,  put  a  cover  on,  lay  them  down,  and  you 
have  a  sap-roller.  By  keeping  this  in  front  of 
a  couple  of  men,  they  could  dig  a  trench  directly 
toward  the  enemy's  lines,  and  still  be  protected 
from  the  deadly  minie-balls.  We  dug  trenches 
and  moved  towards  the  enemy  until  the  two 


VICKSBUEG  119 

picket  lines  were  within  hail  of  each  other.  One 
of  the  "Johnnies"  made  an  agreement  with 
one  of  our  boys  that  they  should  lay  down  their 
guns  and  have  a  talk,  which  they  did.  The  Con- 
federate said  our  guns  had  killed  many  in  the 
trenches.  Sometimes  there  was  a  richness  in 
the  repartee  between  the  Union  and  Confeder- 
ate pickets  that  is  worth  repeating.  One  day 
a  "Johnnie"  calls  out:  "What  are  you  men 
doing  over  there?"  and  quick  comes  the  an- 
swer: "Guarding  30,000  Johnnies  in  Vicks- 
burg,  and  making  them  board  themselves. ' '  An- 
other picket  asks  the  question:  "Why  don't 
you  come  and  take  Vicksburg?"  and  the  Union 
replies :  *  *  Oh,  we  're  in  no  particular  hurry ;  Gen. 
Grant  is  not  yet  ready  to  transfer  you  North. ' ' 
The  pickets  of  both  armies  were  good  natured 
and  used  to  brag  of  their  ability  to  whip  each 
other.  The  gunboats  and  mortars  from  the 
river  side  make  things  lively  for  the  people  in- 
side the  city.  Day  after  day  the  sharpshooters 


120  VICKSBTJBG 

are  at  work;  the  cannonading  is  kept  up;  the 
saps  are  approaching  the  enemy's  stronghold 
still  nearer  and  nearer.  The  bursting  of  shells 
over  our  heads,  while  resting  in  our  camps, 
tended  to  make  things  lively,  in  many  instances 
causing  wounds  and  death.  One  day  the  boys 
of  my  regiment  were  cooking  a  mess  of  beans 
for  dinner  (beans  were  on  the  bill  of  fare  every 
day).  The  beans  were  being  cooked  in  one  of 
those  large  camp  kettles  that  were  hung  from 
a  pole  resting  on  two  upright  sticks  driven  into 
the  ground.  The  beans  were  supposed  to  be 
done.  The  dinner  hour  was  near  at  hand;  two 
of  the  boys  took  hold  of  the  pole  and  lifted  the 
kettle  from  its  resting  place  to  put  it  to  one  side. 
Just  then  the  sharp  whirr  of  a  piece  of  shell 
from  overhead  was  heard  and  the  next  instant 
it  went  crashing  through  the  bottom  of  that 
kettle,  carrying  beans  and  all  with  it,  burying 
it  in  the  earth.  The  two  soldiers,  still  holding 
the  pole  in  their  hands,  looked  at  each  other 


VICKSBUEG  121 

in  disgust  for  a  moment,  and  then  one  of  them, 
turning  around,  called  out  to  the  waiting  hun- 
gry soldiers:  "Boys,  your  beans  have  gone  to 
h— 1." 

The  boys  in  the  ranks  had  no  use  for  a 
"dude"  officer.  Gen.  McPherson,  who  com- 
manded our  corps  (a  braver  or  finer  gentleman 
never  breathed),  had  on  his  staff  a  fine  offi- 
cer, but  who  was  very  fond  of  dress,  and  when 
he  would  ride  along  the  line  of  march,  in  his 
velvet  suit,  the  boys  would  guy  him  unmerci- 
fully. One  day  this  Colonel  came  into  the 
trenches,  and,  stopping  opposite  where  I  stood 
on  the  embankment  behind  the  gabions,  ad- 
dressed one  of  our  boys  thus:  "Sergeant,  do 
you  see  the  enemy  from  this  point  ? ' '  The  Ser- 
geant replied:  "Yes,  sir,  by  looking  through 
this  hole  in  the  log,  down  that  ravine  you  will 
occasionally  see  the  enemy  crossing."  The 
Colonel  got  up,  looked  through  the  hole,  and 
saw  some  Confederates  crossing  the  ravine,  and 


122  VICKSBURG 

then  he  was  moved  to  take  a  hand  in  the  game, 
and  turning  'round,  said:  "Sergeant,  load  your 
rifle  and  let  me  have  a  pop  at  those  fellows." 
"All  right,  Colonel,"  and  while  he  was  still 
looking,  the  Sergeant  at  his  rear,  loaded  the 
musket.  The  gun  had  been  in  use  most  of  the 
day,  and  was  pretty  foul  and  if  not  held  just 
right,  would  kick  fearfully.  Well,  wicked  sin- 
ner that  the  soldier  was,  he  took  two  cartridges, 
using  two  charges  of  powder  and  one  bullet, 
and  loaded  the  Enfield  rifle,  put  the  percussion 
cap  on  and  handed  it  to  the  Colonel  and,  step- 
ping back  into  the  trenches,  awaited  develop- 
ments. The  Colonel  got  ready,  saw  his  man, 
pulled  the  trigger  and — tumbled  back  into  the 

trench.    He  handed  the  gun  back,  remarking: 

« 

"Your  gun,  Sergeant,  recoils  considerable," 
and  the  innocent  (?)  soldier  said,  "Does  it?" 
The  Colonel  did  not  ask  for  a  second  shot.  I  '11 
warrant  he  had  a  black  and  blue  shoulder  for 
a  month.  The  poor  Colonel  has  passed  away 


VICKSBUBG  123 

and  the  Sergeant  never  had  the  opportunity  to 
apologize  to  him. 

The  sap-roller  with  the  boys  in  blue  behind 
it  are  gaining  every  day  in  digging  trenches 
toward  Fort  Hill.  The  men  of  Gen.  Logan's 
division  are  employed  in  this  work,  and  the  plan 
is  to  undermine  the  enemy 's  Fort  Hill  and  blow 
it  up.  While  we  had  to  be  under  fire  from  the 
enemy  constantly,  we  were  better  off  than  they; 
not  only  did  they  suffer  from  a  continuous  shell- 
ing by  the  cannons  and  mortars,  and  the  in- 
cessant rattle  of  musketry,  but  they  had  to  do 
it  on  pretty  empty  stomachs,  for  toward  the 
last  they  were  reduced  to  a  very  meager  diet, 
while  we  were  having  plenty  of  bacon,  hard 
tack,  coffee,  etc.  The  price  of  food  inside  the 
city  at  that  time  was  a  little  higher  than  in 
Chicago.  How  do  these  prices  please  you: 
Flour,  $1,000  a  barrel;  meal,  $140  a  bushel;  beef, 
$2.50  per  pound,  and  mule  meat,  $1  per  pound. 

What  could  you  expect  when  there  was  a 


124  VICKSBTJEG 

continuous  siege  of  47  days;  a  city  surrounded 
by  an  army  that  neither  permits  any  one  to  go 
into  or  come  out  of  it ;  an  army  that  slowly  but 
surely  is  creeping  up  by  its  sap-rollers  and  ap- 
proaches, getting  closer  and  closer  each  day? 
I  said  we  did  not  let  any  one  into  the  city  and 
none  to  come  out  of  it;  still,  notwithstanding 
all  our  watchfulness  there  were  a  few  who  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  through  the  lines,  and  a  few 
that  made  the  attempt  but  failed.  Permit  me 
to  give  one  instance.  In  front  of  the  line  of  the 
15th  Illinois  Eegiment,  near  the  picket  line,  was 
a  low  marshy  sink,  of  about  an  acre  in  size,  cov- 
ered by  brush  and  dense  cane  brakes.  One  night 
a  boy  of  about  10  years  of  age  came  out  of  the 
brush  towards  the  picket  line,  holding  up  his 
handkerchief  as  a  sign  that  he  wished  to  sur- 
render. The  sentinel  told  him  to  come  in;  he 
did,  and  the  little  fellow  told  a  pitiful  story; 
that  he  had  been  in  Vicksburg  visiting  his  aunt 
who  was  sick;  that  his  mother  lived  in  Jack- 


VICKSBUEG  125 

son,  and  he  wanted  to  go  home.  The  story 
seemed  plausible  and  he  was  allowed  to  go 
through  the  lines.  Not  long  after,  one  night, 
the  pickets  in  that  same  locality,  heard  a  rus- 
tling in  the  bushes  in  the  same  swampy  hole, 
and  surmising  that  something  was  wrong,  sur- 
rounded it,  demanding  the  surrender  of  any  one 
there  on  pain  of  being  shot  at  once.  To  their 
surprise  out  came  a  half-dozen  men,  each  with 
a  bag  over  his  shoulder  containing  10,000  per- 
cussion caps.  Gen.  Johnston  had  sent  the  men 
and  caps  back,  led  by  the  same  little  boy,  and 
they  were  trying  to  get  into  Vicksburg.  They 
were  marched  to  Gen.  Grant's  headquarters, 
and  while  waiting  to  be  ushered  into  the  Gen- 
eral 's  presence,  one  of  the  prisoners  said  to  the 
boy :  * '  What  do  you  suppose  they  will  do  with 
you,  for  you  are  the  fellow  that  got  us  into  this 
fix?"  The  little  fellow,  cocking  one  eye  in  a 
comical  manner,  replied:  "Oh,  I  guess  they 
won't  hurt  me  much,  coz  I'se  so  little."  The 


126  VICKSBURG 

little  fellow  was  not  hurt  much,  but  kept  a  pris- 
oner until  the  surrender  and  then  with  the  sol- 
diers sent  home. 

The  siege  continues  day  after  day;  the  bom- 
bardment from  land  and  water  is  incessant ;  the 
beleaguered  army  is  reduced  to  quarter  rations, 
living  on  mule  meat  and  thinking  it  good  fare; 
the  inhabitants  of  the  city  hiding  and  living  in 
caves,  to  escape  the  storm  of  shells  from  the 
Union  army  and  navy,  which  are  exploding  day 
and  night  in  their  streets.  The  enemy  are  brave 
and  fight  valiantly  for  their  city  and  cause; 
neither  the  scorching  sun  nor  the  drenching  rain 
keep  them  from  their  posts.  They  suffer  for 
water ;  they  are  pinched  with  hunger ;  still  they 
fight  and  hold  the  fort.  However,  the  end  is 
near.  That  persistency  and  determination,  so 
characteristic  of  our  commander,  Gen.  Grant, 
will  surely  win.  It  is  related  of  Gen.  Grant  that 
one  day  during  the  siege  he  was  riding  around 
the  lines,  and  stopped  at  a  house  to  get  some 


VICKSBUKG  127 

water.  The  only  occupant  was  a  woman  who 
tauntingly  asked  him  if  he  expected  to  get  into 
Vicksburg.  "Certainly,"  he  replied.  "But 
when?"  she  said.  "I  cannot  tell  exactly  when 
I  shall  take  the  town,  but  I  mean  to  stay  here 
till  I  do,  if  it  takes  me  30  years."  The  reply 
was  too  much  for  the  old  lady,  and  her  heart 
sank  within  her,  as  she  rushed  back  into  the 
house  to  hide  her  anger.  That  reminds  me  of 
an  incident  that  passed  between  Gen.  Grant  and 
myself,  the  relating  of  which  I  may  be  pardoned 
inasmuch  as  I  am  relating  reminiscences.  One 
hot  day  in  June  I  was  in  the  trenches  with  my 
company,  behind  the  gabions,  on  duty  as  sharp- 
shooters, when  Gen.  Grant,  attended  by  one  of 
his  staff,  came  along.  He  had  climbed  the  hill 
and  when  he  arrived  opposite  me  was  perspiring 
and  puffing  greatly.  We  turned  and  saluted  the 
General  as  he  walked  along  the  trench.  When 
he  came  opposite  to  me  he  said:  "Sergeant,  is 
there  any  water  convenient  f "  I  replied,  *  *  None, 


128  VICKSBURG 

General,  except  what  is  in  my  canteen,"  and 
taking  my  canteen  from  my  shoulder,  half  filled 
with  pretty  warm  water,  I  handed  it  to  him. 
He  took  it,  offered  it  to  the  officer,  who  declined, 
and  then  Gen.  Grant  took  a  hearty  drink  from 
my  canteen.  He  then  handed  it  back,  thank- 
ing me  for  it,  and  passed  on.  So  in  the  words 
of  Miles  O'Reilly's  poem — 

"There  are  bonds  of  all  sorts  in  this  world  of  ours, 

Fetters  of  friendship  and  ties  of  flowers, 
And  true  lovers'  knots,  I  ween; 

The  girl  and  the  boy  are  bound  by  a  kiss, 
But  there's  never  a  bond,  old  friend,  like  this — 
We  have  drank  from  the  same  canteen." 

Although  we  are  relieved  often  in  our  daily 
duty  of  sharpshooters,  and  return  to  the  ravines 
and  hollows  where  we  are  bivouacked,  still  we 
are  constantly  threatened  with  death;  the  sol- 
diers wrote  songs,  and  the  jest  went  around,  fun 
actually  being  coined  from  the  danger  which 
some  comrade  escaped,  or  attempted  to  nimbly 
dodge.  There  was  no  shirking  or  quailing; 
danger  had  long  since  ceased  to  cause  any  fear. 


VICKSBURG  129 

Exploding  shells  and  whistling  bullets  attracted 
but  little  notice.  Even  death  had  become  so 
familiar  that  the  fall  of  a  comrade  was  looked 
upon  with  almost  stoical  indifference;  eliciting, 
perhaps,  an  expression  of  pity,  and  most  gen- 
erally the  remark:  "I  wonder  who  will  be  the 
next  one?"  Men  are  not  naturally  unmindful 
of  danger,  nor  do  their  hearts  usually  exhibit 
such  indifference  to  human  agony  and  suffer- 
ing; yet  the  occurrence  of  daily  scenes  of  hor- 
ror and  bloodshed,  through  which  they  passed, 
the  shadow  of  the  angel  of  death  constantly 
hovering  over  them,  made  them  undisturbed 
spectators  of  every  occurrence,  making  the  most 
of  today,  heedless  of  the  morrow. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Let  us  go  back  to  the  " White  House"  and 
Fort  Hill  in  our  front.  The  Shirley  or  White 
House  was  not  far  from  Fort  Hill,  and  being 
on  a  hill  overlooked  much  of  the  field  of  oper- 
ations, and  was  the  frequent  resort  of  Gen. 
Grant  and  other  commanders  during  the  siege. 
Several  officers  and  men  were  shot  in  this 
house.  A  Lieutenant  of  Battery  L  went  to 
Colonel  Maltby  of  the  45th  Illinois  (whose  camp 
was  along  the  "White  House")  and  asked  per- 
mission to  use  a  room  in  the  house  for  making 
out  the  battery  pay  rolls.  "Why,  certainly," 
promptly  answered  Colonel  Maltby,  "walk 
right  in;  it's  a  splendid  place.  I  was  shot  in 
the  leg  here  yesterday." 

It  is  of  peculiar  interest  to  the  writer,  as  he 
was  wounded  in  this  house  while  in  the  line  of 
duty  on  July  2,  1863.  Mr.  Shirley  and  family 
were  living  in  this  house  when  on  May  18, 1863, 

131 


132  VICKSBURG 

the  skirmishers  of  the  Union  army  advanced 
along  the  Jackson  road,  pressed  back  those  of 
Pemberton's  army  into  their  main  defensive 
line,  so  close  at  hand  that  the  salient  fort,  known 
as  Fort  Hill  to  the  Union  army,  but  to  the  Con- 
federates known  as  the  Third  Louisiana  Redan, 
nearly  west  of  the  house  and  immediately  north 
of  the  road,  wras  not  over  350  yards  distant.  As 
the  building  was  an  obstruction  to  the  fire  from 
the  Confederate  line,  it  was  to  have  been  de- 
stroyed ;  but,  according  to  the  story  of  Mrs.  Ea- 
ton, the  presence  of  her  mother  delayed  carry- 
ing the  order  into  execution  so  long  that  the 
Confederate  soldier  who  came  to  do  so,  while 
holding  a  ball  of  blazing  cotton  to  the  build- 
ing, fell  under  the  fire  of  the  advancing  van- 
guard and  was  buried  the  next  day  upon  the 
spot.  As  for  Mrs.  Shirley,  she  first  had  a  sheet 
attached  to  a  broomstick  and  hung  from  an  up- 
per window,  which  gave  some  respite  from  the 
fire  of  the  Union  troops.  But  their  line  soon 


VICKSBUBG  133 

reached  the  house  itself  and  practically  rested 
there,  so  that  a  steady  firing  upon  it  from  the 
other  side  was  inevitable.  Notwithstanding 
this,  Mrs.  Shirley  remained  there  for  three 
days,  much  of  the  time  sitting  behind  the  large 
chimney  for  shelter.  Having  in  the  meantime 
learned  of  the  situation  of  the  Shirley's,  orders 
came  from  Gen.  McPherson  for  their  removal. 
They  went  accordingly,  into  a  shallow  cave  has- 
tily prepared  in  a  nearby  ravine.  Here  the 
family  remained  for  a  time,  Mrs.  Shirley  hav- 
ing sickened  from  exposure  and  poor  fare,  but 
were  soon  after,  by  Gen.  Grant's  personal  di- 
rection, removed  to  a  plantation  three  miles  in 
the  rear,  where  a  negro  cabin  afforded  tem- 
porary shelter.  The  Shirley's  were  Union  peo- 
ple, and  Mr.  Lossing,  the  historian,  says :  "That 
the  accomplished  daughter  kept  a  diary  during 
the  siege,  each  day's  record  closing  with  the 
prediction  that  success  would  crown  the  efforts 
of  the  Union  army."  The  wish  was  father  to 


134  VICKSBUBG 

the  thought ;  her  patriotism  was  rewarded  with 
the  heart  and  hand  of  the  gallant  Gen.  Eaton 
of  the  United  States  army,  and  they  were  mar- 
ried about  the  close  of  the  war.  They  now  re- 
side in  Washington,  and  if  the  facts  of  their 
courtship  and  betrothal,  conducted  amidst  the 
exciting  scenes  of  a  terrible  siege,  were  known, 
it  would  no  doubt  be  a  very  interesting  romance. 
But  what  of  the  ladies  who  are  in  the  besieged 
city?  Many  of  them  have  left  their  fine  man- 
sions and  taken  up  their  abode  in  the  holes 
and  caves  of  the  hills  in  and  around  the  city, 
and  so  universal  was  this  mode  of  living  that 
the  city  in  its  desolation  looked  like  a  "  prairie 
dog's  village."  One  of  the  residents  of  the 
city  afterwards  said:  "It  got  to  be  Sunday 
all  the  time;  seven  Sundays  in  the  week  to  us 
anyway.  We  hadn't  anything  to  do  and  the 
time  hung  heavy.  Seven  Sundays,  and  all  of 
them  broken  up  at  one  time  or  another  in  the 
day  or  in  the  night  by  a  few  hours  of  the  awful 


VICKSBURG  .    135 

storm  of  fire  and  thunder  and  iron  and  lead." 
The  caves  were  sometimes  fearfully  crowded, 
always  hot  and  close.  Oftentimes  a  cave  had 
from  twenty  to  twenty-five  people  packed  in  it ; 
no  turning  room  for  anybody,  and  the  air  so 
foul,  sometimes,  you  could  not  have  made  a  can- 
dle burn.  A  child  was  born  in  one  of  these  caves 
one  night  during  the  siege.  Generally,  there 
is  considerable  noise  around  when  a  baby  is 
born,  but  this  fellow  was  welcomed  with  the 
booming  of  cannon  and  the  fierce  shriek  of  the 
screaming  shell.  I'll  warrant,  if  he  was  like 
most  boys,  he  tried  to  make  all  the  noise  he 
could.  But  he  is  no  longer  a  baby,  at  least  let 
us  hope  he  is  not,  for  he  is  old  enough  now  to 
be  a  man  all  through,  being  at  this  time  over 
50  years  of  age.  I  have  his  picture  and  a  fine- 
looking  man  he  is.  He  writes  on  his  picture: 
"I  was  born  12  feet  under  ground."  One  night 
a  shell  burst  in  front  of  one  of  these  caves  and 
stopped  up  the  hole  to  such  an  extent  the  occu- 


136  VICKSBURG 

pants  came  near  smothering,  and  for  a  time 
there  was  some  lively  scratching  of  dirt  for  a 
breathing  hole. 

Fort  Hill  is  said  to  be  the  key  to  Vicksburg. 
We  have  tried  often  to  turn  this  key,  and  have 
as  often  failed — in  fact,  the  lock  is  not  an  easy 
one,  but  we  soon  shall  try  the  burglar's  plan, 
and  with  the  aid  of  powder  blow  the  lock  to 
"smithereens."  The  sap  or  trench  is  run  to 
the  fort  and  the  fort  is  mined,  the  boys  dig- 
ging the  dirt  and  carrying  it  out  in  boxes.  Great 
holes  are  dug  underneath  the  fort,  and  miners 
from  the  Lead  Mine,  45th  Illinois  Regiment, 
who  understand  tamping,  have  charged  the 
2,200  pounds  of  powder,  and  all  is  ready  to  light 
the  fuse.  June,  the  25th,  a  heavy  artillery  fire 
opened  all  along  the  line,  and  at  2 :30  p.  m.,  the 
explosion  takes  place.  Huge  masses  of  earth 
were  thrown  in  the  air,  and  the  ground  was 
shaken  as  by  an  earthquake.  As  soon  as  the 
earth  was  rent,  a  bright  glare  of  fire  issued  from 


VICKSBUEG  137 

the  burning  powder,  but  quickly  died  away,  as 
there  was  nothing  combustible  in  the  fort.  A  few 
Confederate  soldiers  were  hurled  into  the  air, 
one  or  two  of  whom  came  down  inside  our  lines, 
and  some  were  buried  in  the  fort,  as  was  proven 
a  few  years  after  the  war,  when  the  fort  was 
dismantled  and  turned  into  a  cotton  field,  a  few 
skeletons  were  found  buried  underneath.  One 
negro  boy  fell  among  the  men  of  our  company. 
He  gathered  himself  together,  and  looked 
around  as  though  he  thought  the  day  of  judg- 
ment had  surely  come.  One  of  our  boys  asked 
him  how  far  up  he  thought  he  had  gone,  and  he 
replied :  i  f  Don 't  know,  Massa ;  'bout  free  miles, 
I  guess. ' '  He  believed  it,  for  I  never  saw  such 
a  frightened  look  on  any  one's  face,  and  his 
eyes  stood  out  and  looked  unnatural.  When 
the  smoke  and  dust  had  cleared  away -partly,  a 
great  saucer-shaped  crater  was  seen,  where  be- 
fore was  the  A-shaped  Fort  Hill.  It  was  large 
enough  to  hold  about  60  or  80  men.  The  23rd 


138  VICKSBUEG 

Indiana  and  the  45th  Illinois  were  in  the 
trenches  ready  to  charge;  the  command  was 
given  before  the  dust  had  fully  settled ;  the  23rd 
Indiana  charging  to  the  left  of  the  crater  to  the 
top  of  the  works ;  the  45th  Illinois  up  and  into 
the  crater.  The  enemy  had  come  up  behind 
the  big  pile  of  earth  thrown  out  by  the  explosion, 
and  as  we  went  into  the  crater,  they  met  us 
with  a  terrible  volley  of  musketry,  but  on  the 
boys  went,  up  and  over  the  embankment  with  a 
cheer,  the  enemy  falling  back  a  few  paces  to  an 
inner  or  second  line  of  breastworks,  where  are 
placed  cannon  loaded  with  grape  and  canister, 
and  these  cannon  belched  forth  their  death-deal- 
ing missiles,  in  addition  to  the  heavy  musketry 
fire,  with  such  telling  effect  that  many  of  the 
brave  boys  fall  to  rise  no  more ;  the  line  wavers, 
staggers,  and  then  falls  back  into  the  crater. 
The  enemy  charge  on  us,  but  we  repel  them  at 
the  west  bank  of  the  crater,  and  a  hand-to-hand 
conflict  rages  for  hours;  hand  grenades  and 


Sz 

03   3 


VICKSBUKG  139 

loaded  shells  are  lighted  and  thrown  over  the 
parapet  as  you  would  play  ball.  These  shells 
and  hand  grenades  carry  death,  as  many  as  a 
dozen  men  being  killed  and  wounded  at  one  ex- 
plosion. It  seems  to  me,  in  looking  back,  a  won- 
der that  anyone  in  that  hot  place  was  left  to  tell 
the  story.  I  have  witnessed  our  men  grab  these 
shells,  at  the  risk  of  their  exploding,  and  fling 
them  back.  Many  a  brave  hero  laid  down  his 
life  in  that  death  hole,  or,  as  we  most  appro- 
priately called  it,  "Fort  Hell."  The  Chicago 
Tribune  had  its  correspondent  in  the  field  and, 
in  the  issues  of  that  paper  on  July  3  and  6, 
1863,  he  speaks  of  the  charge  and  fighting  in 
the  crater,  saying:  *  *  *  "A  wide  em- 
brasure in  the  embankment  was  made  into 
which  the  noble  Lead  Mine  Regiment,  led  by 
Colonel  Maltby,  rushed  in  and  at  once  planted 
our  banner  amid  a  terrific  fire  from  the  enemy. 
The  conduct  of  the  45th  Illinois  Regiment  was 
grand  in  the  extreme.  Universal  commenda- 


140  VICKSBURG 

tion  is  bestowed  for  the  gallant  manner  that 
regiment  performed  the  duty  assigned  it,  and 
in  no  small  degree  upon  the  field  officers  who  so 
nobly  inspired  the  men  by  taking  the  advance 
and  marching  up  to  the  muzzles  of  the  enemy's 
guns,  so  near  that  for  a  time  it  was  a  hand-to- 
hand  fight.  The  colors  of  the  regiment  planted 
on  the  parapet  of  the  fort  are  literally  torn  to 
pieces  by  the  shots  of  the  enemy.  Two  of  the 
field  officers,  Lieut.  Col.  Smith  and  Major  Fisk, 
are  no  more.  Col.  Maltby  is  still  suffering  from 
a  severe  wound. ' ' 

We  fought  at  close  range. with  the  enemy  over 
that  embankment  of  earth,  many  of  the  men 
receiving  bayonet  wounds.  A  cypress  log,  with 
port  holes  cut  on  the  under  side,  was  brought 
into  the  crater,  and  in  helping  to  place  it  on  the 
parapet,  Col.  James  A.  Maltby  was  severely 
wounded  by  splinters  from  the  log.  A  solid 
shot  from  a  cannon  hit  the  log,  hurling  it  with 
terrific  force  against  the  Colonel  and  his  small 


VICKSBUBG  141 

command.  Gen.  John  A.  Logan  said  of  Col. 
Maltby,  at  the  siege  of  Vicksburg :  ' '  He  is  the 
bravest  man  I  ever  saw  on  the  field  of  battle. ' ' 
He  was  in  the  Mexican  War,  badly  wounded  at 
Chapultepec,  then  at  Fort  Donelson  in  1862 
and  then  at  Vicksburg.  He  was  justly  promoted 
to  be  a  Brigadier  General  for  his  bravery.  A 
detail  of  about  two  companies  would  hold  the 
crater  for  two  hours  or  more,  their  rapid  firing 
causing  the  rifles  to  become  hot  and  foul,  and 
the  men  weary  and  worn  out,  when  two  other 
companies  would  slip  in  and  take  their  places. 
Badeau,  in  his  history  of  Gen.  Grant,  says: 
"Details  from  Leggett's  brigade  relieved  each 
other  all  night  long,  in  their  attempt  to  hold 
the  crater. ' '  I  want  to  correct  his  history  and 
say,  as  I  have  a  right  to  say,  for  I  was  there 
and  speak  from  what  I  know  to  be  the  facts, 
it  was  no  " attempt,"  it  was  an  accomplished 
fact  that  we  held  it,  but  to  our  great  loss,  until 
the  order  was  received  to  give  it  up.  What  a 


142  VICKSBURG 

terrible  sacrifice  it  was  to  hold  that  little  piece 
of  ground.  It  probably  was  all  right  to  have 
made  the  charge  into  the  crater  after  the  explo- 
sion and  try  to  make  a  breech  inside  the  enemy's 
lines,  but  it  surely  was  a  serious  mistake,  either 
of  Gen.  Grant  or  Gen.  McPherson,  to  cause  that 
crater  to  be  held  for  over  48  hours  with  the  loss 
of  brave  men  every  hour.  I  remember,  upon 
returning  to  the  trenches,  after  having  been  re- 
lieved in  the  crater,  of  passing  Gen.  John  A. 
Logan,  surrounded  by  some  of  his  aid-de-camp, 
and  as  they  bore  past  him  some  wounded  hero, 
he  broke  forth  with  vehemence,  saying:  "My 
God!  they  are  killing  my  bravest  men  in  that 
hole."  Someone  suggested  that  the  place  be 
given  up.  He  said  in  reply :  "I  can 't ;  my  com- 
manding officer  orders  me  to  hold  every  inch 
of  ground."  The  crater  was  at  last  given  up 
and  we  resumed  the  ordinary  duties  of  every- 
day life  in  the  trenches  and  in  camp. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

The  army  was  without  tents,  yet  very  com- 
fortable. They  were  encamped  along  the  steep 
hillside,  mostly  sheltered  from  the  enemy's  shot. 
A  place  was  dug  against  the  hill,  and  in  many 
cases,  into  it,  forming  a  sort  of  cave.  Poles 
were  put  up  and  covered  with  oil  cloths,  blank- 
ets or  cane  rods,  of  which  an  abundant  supply 
was  near  at  hand.  For  fuel,  the  farm  fences 
were  laid  under  contribution,  in  some  cases  be- 
ing hauled  for  two  or  three  miles.  The  work 
of  slaughter  and  destruction  went  on  day  and 
night.  The  roar  of  cannon,  the  rattle  of  mus- 
ketry, the  sharp  crack  of  the  rifle  in  the  hands 
of  the  sharpshooters,  reached  the  ear  from  all 
sides.  There  was  no  cessation,  no  let  up. 

"Cannon  to  right  of  them; 
Cannon  to  left  of  them; 
Cannon  in  front  of  them; 
Volleyed  and  thundered." 

Stormed  at  with  shot  and  shell,  the  beleaug- 
ered  garrison  and  the  inhabitants  of  Vicksburg 

143 


144  VICKSBURG 

must  have  felt,  as  surely  as  day  follows  night, 
that  the  end  could  not  be  much  longer  delayed. 
Mines  and  countermines  were  dug  and  sprung. 
Not  a  man  in  the  trenches  on  either  side  could 
show  his  head  above  the  breastworks  without 
being  picked  off  by  the  sharpshooters.  A  hat 
held  out  for  two  minutes  at  a  port  hole  was  rid- 
dled with  minie-balls.  Shells  searched  out  all 
parts  of  the  city,  with  direful  results.  Several 
women  and  children  were  killed  and  wounded 
during  the  siege.  There  were  about  1,300  wo- 
men and  children  in  the  city  during  the  bom- 
bardment, who,  during  the  greater  part  of  the 
time,  had  been  obliged  to  live  in  caves,  cut  in 
the  hard  clay  hills  in  the  city,  of  which  there 
were  several  hundred.  At  this  day  it  may  seem 
to  some  of  my  readers  that  it  was  cruel  and  in- 
human for  the  Union  forces  to  fire  on  defense- 
less women  and  children,  but  what  could  we  do; 
they  were  in  the  city  and  preferred  to  remain 
there  to  cheer  on  their  husbands  and  brothers 


VICKSBUEG  145 

in  their  work  of  trying  to  destroy  the  Union. 
To  show  my  readers  with  what  feeling  these 
Southern  women  showed  their  hatred  of  the 
North  and  the  boys  in  blue,  let  me  give  a  sim- 
ple extract  from  a  letter  written  by  a  Southern 
wife  to  her  husband  in  the  Confederate  army, 
which  letter  was  captured  near  Vicksburg. 
Speaking  of  the  Yankees  she  says:  "If  there 
is  an  hereafter,  a  heaven  or  hell,  I  pray  to  go 
to  perdition  ere  my  soul  would  be  joined  to  rest 
in  heaven  with  the  fiendish  foe.  It  would  be 
some  solace  to  us,  when  we  love  our  husbands, 
fathers,  sons  and  friends,  to  know  they  were 
fighting  an  enemy,  civilized  or  refined  in  a  great 
degree.  But,  oh!  the  thought  is  killing;  is  too 
painful,  to  see  our  men,  the  choicest,  most  re- 
fined specimens  of  God's  work,  destroyed  and 
even  forced  to  take  up  arms  against  the  off- 
scourings, outcast  dregs  of  creation,  for  every 
man  they  lose  is  a  blessing,  a  Godsend  to  hu- 
manity and  society."  These  are  strong  words, 


146  VICKSBURG 

and  a  woman  that  could  harbor  such  feelings 
would  have  the  courage  to  stay  in  the  doomed 
city  and  take  her  chances  with  her  husband  and 
friends. 

To  offset  this,  let  me  tell  you  of  a  romance 
of  the  war,  which  has  never  been  published, 
and  was  given  me  by  Comrade  Searles,  late  of 
Chicago.  Gen.  Elias  E.  Dennis,  in  command  of 
a  brigade  of  our  troops  during  the  siege,  made 
his  headquarters  at  a  farm  house  (the  home  of 
a  widow  and  family),  occupying  one  portion  of 
it.  The  General  was  very  kind  to  the  widow 
and  orphans,  often  providing  for  them  from  his 
own  means.  One  of  these  children,  a  bright, 
winsome  little  girl  of  some  eight  years,  took  a 
deep  interest  in  all  that  transpired,  remember- 
ing many  events  of  those  stirring  times,  but 
above  all,  retaining  a  most  kindly  recollection  of 
the  General  who  occupied  the  house.  About 
twelve  years  ago  a  reunion  of  some  old  veterans 
was  held  at  Vicksburg.  Comrade  Searles,  of 


VICKSBUEG  147 

Chicago,  was  there,  and  among  the  Southern  la- 
dies who  welcomed  them  was  this  little  girl,  now, 
of  course,  grown  to  womanhood.  Accepting  her 
kind  invitation  to  visit  her  home,  the  next  day 
found  our  comrade  in  the  same  house  where 
Gen.  Dennis  had  made  his  headquarters  during 
the  siege.  Naturally,  the  conversation  turned 
to  the  days  of  1863.  The  lady,  recalling  the 
many  kindnesses  of  Gen.  Dennis,  inquired  if  he 
were  alive,  to  which  Comrade  Searles  replied: 
"Why,  bless  you,  I  know  him  personally;  he 
lives  at  Omaha."  She  then  asked  her  comrade 
if  he  would  be  the  bearer  of  a  letter  to  the  Gen- 
eral, and  he  replied,  "Most  gladly."  In  due 
time  this  was  delivered.  What  its  contents 
were,  none  save  the  writer  and  the  General  ever 
knew,  but  as  he  read  the  letter,  his  lips  quiv- 
ered and  his  eyes  filled  with  tears.  The  General 
was  alone  in  the  world,  his  wife  and  only  daugh- 
ter having  passed  away.  Soon  after  he  jour- 
neyed south.  We  know  not  what  the  greeting 


148  VICKSBUEG 

was;  no  doubt  the  lady  awakened  in  the  mind 
of  the  old  veteran  memories  of  his  own  lost, 
loved  child,  for  shortly  after  this,  he  adopted 
the  lady  as  his  daughter.  He  lived  the  re- 
mainder of  his  days  in  Vicksburg,  and  but  re- 
cently passed  over  to  the  eternal  camping 
ground.  When  the  General's  will  was  proven, 
it  was  found  that  all  his  property  had  been  left 
to  his  daughter  of  the  Southland. 

Another  romance  that  commenced  shortly 
after  the  surrender  of  the  city  is  worth  record- 
ing. A  Miss  Mary  E.  Hurlburt,  of  Danbury, 
Conn.,  a  Northern  girl,  was  visiting  at  the  Lunn 
Mansion  in  the  city  of  Vicksburg  at  the  out- 
break of  the  war,  and  tarrying  too  long,  was 
compelled  to  remain  there  until  the  Union  forces 
opened  up  the  Mississippi  River.  When  Gen. 
Grant  captured  the  city,  the  officers  of  those 
commanding  the  troops  in  the  city  domiciled 
themselves  at  different  houses.  Gen.  Leggett 
and  his  staff  located  their  headquarters  at  the 


VICKSBUEG  149 

Lunn  residence.  Gen.  John  A.  Rawlins,  chief 
of  Gen.  Grant's  staff,  had  occasion  to  visit  the 
headquarters  of  Gen.  Leggett  and  naturally  met 
Miss  Hurlburt  and  their  acquaintance  soon 
ripened  into  a  love  affair,  which  in  a  few  months 
culminated  in  a  wedding  and  the  young  lady 
became  the  wife  of  Gen.  John  A.  Bawlins,  and 
shared  with  him  in  all  the  honors  conferred 
upon  the  General  as  the  closest  advisor  of  Gen. 
Grant,  and  afterwards  as  Secretary  of  War. 

The  month  of  June,  1863,  was  rolling  by  and 
the  glorious  4th  of  July  drew  near.  The  Union 
lines  were  getting  closer  and  closer,  and  the 
question  was  passed  around  among  the  boys, 
"Shall  we  spend  the  Fourth  in  Vicksburg  or  in 
the  trenches?"  On  June  28,  the  Confederates 
threw  over  to  our  men  a  small  biscuit  made  of 
corn  meal  and  peas.  To  this  was  attached  a 
very  small  piece  of  meat  and^,  note  stating  that 
it  was  one  day's  rations.  The  note  Went  on: 
"We  are  pretty  hungry  and  dreadful  dry.  Old 


150  VICKSBURG 

Pemberton  has  taken  all  the  whisky  for  the  hos- 
pitals and  our  Southern  Confederacy  is  so  small 
just  now  that  we  are  not  in  the  manufacturing 
business.  Give  our  compliments  to  Gen.  Grant 
and  say  to  him  that  grub  would  be  acceptable, 
but  we  will  feel  under  particular  obligations  to 
him  if  he  will  send  us  a  few  bottles  of  good 
whisky. ' ' 

Shall  I  give  you  the  experience  of  a  wounded 
soldier!  Towards  the  close  of  the  siege,  while 
in  the  line  of  duty,  a  minie-ball  from  a  Con- 
federate sharpshooter  went  crashing  through 
his  right  lung.  His  comrades  bore  him  back  a 
short  distance;  the  surgeon  came  and  seeing 
where  the  soldier  had  been  shot,  shook  his  head 
and  said, ' '  he  cannot  live. ' '  Comrades  gathered 
around,  saying  in  undertones,  "poor  fellow,  he's 
got  his  discharge. ' '  The  soldier  closed  his  eyes, 
and  although  gasping  for  breath,  as  the  warm 
life  blood  flowed  from  his  wound  and  gushed 
from  his  mouth,  saw  something — his  past  life 


VICKSBURG  151 

came  before  him  like  a  living  panorama;  the 
good  deeds  and  the  evil  of  his  life  appeared  in 
a  few  moments;  he  thought  he  was  soon  to  be 
ushered  into  eternity,  and  how  would  it  stand 
with  him  there.  He  breathed  one  little  prayer : 
"0,  Lord,  spare  my  life  and  I  will  serve  thee 
all  my  days."  Presently  the  ambulance  came 
and  he  was  lifted  tenderly,  into  it,  to  be  con- 
veyed two  miles  to  the  rear  to  the  brush  hos- 
pital. The  boys  said  ' '  good  bye. ' '  He  was  but 
a  youth,  not  twenty  years  of  age ;  had  been  pro- 
moted to  First  Sergeant  after  the  battle  of  Shi- 
loh  and  had  endeared  himself  to  all  in  his  com- 
pany, many  of  whom  were  old  enough  to  be  his 
father.  Louis  LaBrush,  a  Sergeant  of  the  com- 
pany, a  Frenchman  by  birth,  but  a  true  lover 
of  his  adopted  country,  loved  this  smooth-faced 
boy,  so  badly  wounded,  and  begged  permission 
of  the  Captain  to  go  with  the  wounded  sol- 
dier and  watch  over  him.  The  Captain,  see- 
ing the  yearning  look  in  the  eyes  of  the  Ser- 


152  VICKSBUBG 

geant,  granted  permission,  and  the  ambulance 
started  with  the  old  Sergeant  watching  with 
a  tender  care  over  the  little  Orderly  Ser- 
geant pillowed  on  his  knee.  The  sun  was 
just  sinking  to  rest  when  they  reached  the  hos- 
pital, which  was  only  a  brush  shed  covered 
with  branches  from  the  trees,  in  which  were 
long  lines  of  cots  upon  which  the  wounded 
soldiers  lay.  As  the  ambulance  drew  near 
the  surgeon  in  charge  came  out,  and  look- 
ing at  the  wounded  man,  said:  "Put  him  out 
there  under  that  tree;  he'll  die  tonight,"  and 
the  old  Sergeant  put  his  darling  boy  out  under 
the  tree,  laying  him  tenderly  on  the  ground. 
The  Sergeant  and  another  comrade  of  his  com- 
pany, Henry  Winter,  who  was  a  nurse  in  the 
hospital,  watched  by  the  boy's  side  during  the 
weary  hours  of  the  night.  At  midnight,  as  the 
doctor  was  making  his  rounds,  he  observed  the 
Sergeant  still  under  the  tree,  and  went  to  see 
if  the  boy  was  yet  living.  Finding  that  he  was, 


VICKSBURG  153 

he  then  made  an  examination  by  probing  with 
his  fingers  into  the  wounds.  The  splintered 
bones  pierced  the  tender  flesh  and  made  the  boy 
writhe  in  pain,  although  the  only  protest  was 
the  gritting  of  his  teeth.  To  cause  his  boy  such 
suffering,  after  the  treatment  he  had  received, 
was  more  than  the  old  Frenchman  could  stand, 
and  he  burst  forth  in  a  volley  of  oaths,  com- 
manding the  doctor  to  take  his  hands  off  im- 
mediately or  he  would  kill  him,  saying,  "If  he 
is  going  to  die,  let  him  die  in  peace ;  you  shall 
not  kill  him."  Seeing  the  fire  in  the  old  Ser- 
geant's eyes,  the  doctor  went  away,  muttering, 
"Well,  the  boy  will  die  anyway."  I  want  to 
say  right  here,  that  as  a  rule  our  surgeons  were 
men  of  sympathy  and  did  all  they  could  for  the 
soldiers.  The  example  I  speak  of  is  one  of  the 
exceptions.  The  next  morning  the  surgeon  did 
not  come,  but  sent  word  that  if  the  soldier  under 
the  tree  was  still  alive,  to  dress  his  wound,  give 
him  clean  clothing  and  place  him  on  a  cot  in 


154  VICKSBURG 

the  hospital.  He  was  alive  and  that  boy  recov- 
ered, even  after  the  surgeon  in  the  army  and 
the  doctors  at  home  said  he  couldn't  live.  That 
wounded  boy  lives  today  and  is  able  to  write  this 
book  in  the  year  1915,  and  he  is  ever  grateful 
in  remembrance  of  the  old  French  Sergeant  and 
Comrade  Henry  Winter,  whose  tender  care 
aided  in  saving  his  life. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  trite  saying  of  Gen.  Sherman  that  "war 
is  hell"  cannot  be  fully  appreciated  by  the  peo- 
ple of  this  generation ;  only  those  who  have  been 
through  the  horrors  of  war  on  the  battle  field 
and  in  the  hospitals,  can  fully  realize  the  hor- 
rors of  war.  Let  me  tell  you  how  one  brave  man 
of  my  company  lost  his  life  through  the  most 
reckless  foolishness.  One  day  during  the  siege 
he  succeeded  in  procuring  some  whisky  from 
some  unknown  source  and  drank  enough  of  it 
to  make  him  half  drunk.  While  in  this  condi- 
tion he  took  it  into  his  head  to  go  out  in  the 
open  and  march  out  towards  Fort  Hill,  and  find- 
ing something  of  interest  in  the  open  field,  he 
brought  it  to  camp  and  boasted  to  the  boys 
where  he  got  it.  Some  one  went  and  reported 

to  the  First  Sergeant  that  E was  drunk 

and  had  said  that  he  was  going  to  walk  right 
up  on  top  of  Fort  Hill.    The  Sergeant  detailed 

155 


156  VICKSBURG 

a  Corporal  to  watch  E and  keep  him  in 

camp,  but  the  soldier  having  enough  whisky  in 
him  to  make  him  reckless  and  without  reason 
or  sense,  escaped  his  watch  and  went  boldly  up 
to  Fort  Hill  and  climbed  the  fort,  but  when  on 
top  a  bullet  from  the  enemy  laid  him  low.  As 
we  boys  got  the  body  of  our  comrade  that  night 
and  buried  it,  we  could  not  help  but  say,  that 

if  poor  E had  let  the  accursed  whisky 

alone  he  would  have  been  living,  and  we  then 
declared  that  liquor  was  a  greater  enemy  than 
the  men  Who  opposed  us  with  their  muskets. 

On  the  3rd  day  of  July,  1863,  a  white  flag 
was  seen,  nearly  opposite  to  the  " White 
House."  Firing  ceased  in  that  vicinity  and 
presently  several  Confederate  officers  ap- 
proached our  lines  to  confer  with  Gen.  Grant. 
The  General  declined  meeting  them,  but  sent 
word  he  would  meet  Gen.  Pemberton  at  3  o  'clock 
in  front  of  Gen.  McPherson's  lines.  Soon  after 
Gen.  Pemberton  came  out  and  met  Gen.  Grant 


VICKSBTJRG  157 

under  a  big  tree,  about  midway  between  the  two 
lines,  where  they  had  a  conference  as  to  the  sur- 
render of  Vicksburg,  ' '  The  Gibralter  .of  Amer- 
ica." After  a  talk  of  an  hour,  possibly,  Gen. 
Pemberton  returned  inside  the  fortifications, 
and  then  after  correspondence  lasting  until  the 
next  day,  terms  of  surrender  were  finally  agreed 
upon,  and  on  Saturday,  July  4,  1863,  the  anni- 
versary of  American  Independence,  the  garri- 
son of  Vicksburg  marched  out  of  the  works  it 
had  defended  so  long,  and  stacking  their  arms, 
hung  their  colors  on  the  center,  laid  off  their 
knapsacks,  belts  and  cartridge  boxes,  and  thus 
shorn  of  the  accoutrements  of  the  soldier, 
marched  down  the  road  into  the  city.  They  went 
through  the  ceremony  with  that  downcast  look, 
so  touching  on  a  soldier's  face.  Not  a  word 
was  spoken,  save  the  few  words  of  command 
necessary  to  be  given  by  their  officers,  and  these 
were  given  in  a  subdued  manner.  What  an 
army  it  was — 30,000  men  and  172  cannon.  Gen. 


158  VICKSBUEG 

J.  B.  McPherson,  commanding  the  17th  Arrny 
Corps,  addressed  a  letter  to  Col.  Bawlins,  chief 
of  staff  to  Gen.  Grant,  saying,  "If  one  regi- 
ment goes  in  advance  to  the  court  house  to  take 
possession,  I  respectfully  request  that  it  be  the 
45th  Illinois.  This  regiment  has  borne  the 
brunt  of  the  battle  oftener  than  any  other  in 
my  command  and  always  nobly. ' '  Col.  Bawlins 
endorsed  this  letter,  stating  that  it  was  left  to 
Gen.  McPherson  to  designate  such  regiment  as 
he  saw  proper  to  go  forward  and  take  posses- 
sion of  the  court  house.  Gen.  McPherson  then 
sent  a  letter  to  Gen.  John  A.  Logan,  command- 
ing the  third  division :  "I  suggest  that  the  45th 
Illinois  take  the  advance  in  going  into  the  city. ' ' 
Now  the  boys  in  blue  take  up  their  line  of  march 
into  the  city.  Gen.  Badeau,  in  his  history  of 
Gen.  Grant  says:  " Logan's  division  Was  one 
of  those  which  had  approached  nearest  the 
works,  and  now  was  the  first  to  enter  the  town. 
It  had  been  heavily  engaged  in  both  assaults 


VICKSBTJRG  159 

and  was  fairly  entitled  to  this  honor.  The  45th 
Illinois  Infantry  marched  at  the  head  of  the 
line  and  placed  its  battle-torn  flag  on  the  court 
house  in  Vicksburg.  Gen.  Grant  and  Gen.  Lo- 
gan rode  into  the  town  at  the  head  of  Logan's 
division. ' ' 

When  inside  the  works,  and  in  the  city,  the 
men  of  the  two  armies  affiliated  at  once.  Groups 
of  Union  and  Confederate  soldiers  could  be  seen 
wherever  there  was  a  shady  place;  the  Union 
soldier  pumping  the  rebel  and  giving  him  in  re- 
turn for  the  information  hard  tack  and  bacon, 
which  the  poor  famished  fellows  accepted  with 
a  grateful  look.  The  Confederates  reclined  on 
the  grass  and  while  munching  their  hard  tack, 
tell  what  they  "reckon"  is  their  loss;  how  long 
they  "allowed"  to  hold  out;  how  our  sharp- 
shooters killed  "right  smart"  of  their  men  and 
they  wish  "we'uns"  and  "you'uns"  could  have 
this  war  ended  and  all  live  together  in  peace. 
Many  of  the  Union  and  Confederate  soldiers 


160  VICKSBURG 

were  seen  walking  arm  in  arm;  they  felt  they 
were  countrymen.  Five  days'  rations  were  is- 
sued to  the  prisoners,  consisting  of  bacon, 
hominy,  peas,  coffee,  sugar,  soap,  salt  and 
crackers. 

Here  is  what  one  of  the  Confederates  wrote 
about  it:  "How  the  famished  troops  enjoyed 
such  bounteous  supplies,  it  is  needless  to  state. 
For  once  the  brave  boys  were  now  objects  of 
their  enemy's  charity.  They  grew  jovial  and 
hilarious  over  the  change  in  their  condition. 
The  Yankees  came  freely  among  them  and  were 
unusually  kind.  They  asked  innumerable  ques- 
aions  and  were  horrified  at  the  fact  of  the  men 
eating  mules  and  rats."  After  feeding  and 
paroling  this  large  army  of  men,  for  it  took 
several  days  to  parole  them,  they  silently  and 
sadly  marched  out  and  off  to  their  homes,  while 
the  boys  in  blue  and  the  people  of  the  North 
were  full  of  rejoicing.  Here  is  a  few  lines,  com- 


VICKSBURG  161 

posed  by  one  of  the  boys  in  blue  at  the  time : 

"The  armies  of  the  Union 

'Round  Vicksburg  long  had  lain, 
For  forty-seven  days  and  nights, 

Besieging  it  in  vain. 
Then  came  the  morning  of  the  Fourth, 

Our  nation's  jubilee. 
Ah,  could  the  news  this  hour  go  forth, 

In  Vicksburg  soon  we'll  be. 
The  siege  is  done,  the  struggle  past, 

On  this  eventful  day; 
Glad  tidings  crown  us  as  at  last 

Our  thanks  to  God  we  pay." 

Yes,  Old  Glory  floated  over  Vicksburg  on  July 
4,  1863,  and  what  rejoicing  there  was  through- 
out the  North  when  the  news  came  *o  your 
homes  that  Vicksburg  had  fallen.  Yes,  Old 
Glory  still  floats  there,  and  may  we  earnestly 
hope  it  will  continue  to  wave  as  long  as  the  city 
.  remains.  We  can  rejoice  today  that  we  live  to 
see  a  reunited  people  with  one  country  and  one 
flag.  But  while  rejoicing,  let  us  not  forget  those 
who  have  died  on  fields  of  honor,  and  while  the 
years  glide  on,  let  the  dead  of  Raymond,  Cham- 
pion Hills  and  Vicksburg  never  be  forgotten. 
Let  us  think  of  them  as  standing  guard  over 


162  VICKSBURG 

our  dearly  won  prize,  until  the  bugle  sounds 
for  silence,  while  the  angel  calls  the  roll.  The 
third  largest  national  cemetery  in  the  United 
States  is  located  at  Vicksburg.  Each  of  the 
small  head  stones  marks  the  resting  place  of  a 
hero.  Seventeen  thousand  Union  soldiers  are 
buried  in  the  50  acres  in  this  consecrated  spot, 
of  which  12,957  have  the  simple  inscription, 
* '  Unknown, ' '  marked  on  their  head  stones.  But 
they  are  not  unknown  to  Him  who  cares  for  all. 
He  takes  cognizance  of  the  heroes  who  fell  fight- 
ing for  their  country  and  for  freedom.  Al- 
though their  names  are  missing  from  the  roster 
of  the  city  where  their  ashes  lie,  still  the  great 
Jehovah  keeps  the  record  of  the  brave,  and  He 
will  reward  them  in  His  own  good  time. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

At  the  request  of  Captain  W.  T.  Rigby, 
Chairman  of  the  National  Military  Park  Com- 
mission of  Vicksburg,  to  visit  that  place  for 
the  purpose  of  locating  the  positions  held  by 
my  regiment  during  the  siege  in  1863, 1  did  visit 
Vicksburg,  Miss.,  in  August,  1902. 

I  found  the  weather  very  hot,  99  degrees  in 
the  shade.  However,  it  was  not  as  hot  as  it 
was  when  we  were  in  that ' '  crater ' '  at  Fort  Hill, 
years  ago.  The  people  of  Vicksburg  greeted 
me  with  a  glad  hand.  The  contrast  of  long 
ago  was  striking.  About  the  first  man  I  met 
was  an  old  grizzled  veteran  wearing  the  Con- 
federate button  and,  seeing  my  G.  A.  R.  button, 
he  came  up,  and,  extending  his  hand,  greeted 
me:  "How  are  you,  comrade;  we  wear  differ- 
ent buttons,  but  we  are  brothers;"  and  I  shook 
his  hand  heartily  and  we  had  a  pleasant  chat 

163 


164  VICKSBURG 

of  the  siege.  Then,  we  were  shooting  minie- 
balls  at  each  other;  now,  our  shots  were  story 
and  laughter. 

Captain  Rigby  drove  me  out  to  the  Federal 
and  Confederate  lines.  Many  changes  have 
taken  place.  Some  few  of  the  trenches  and 
breastworks  remain,  but  many  have  been 
smoothed  off  for  the  plow.  As  we  drove  to  the 
spot  where  we  camped,  near  the  old  ''Shirley 
House,"  I  said  to  myself,  "Am  I  dreaming?" 
Can  it  be  that  this  quiet,  deserted  place,  over- 
grown with  weeds  and  bushes,  with  no  sound 
save  the  sweet  songs  of  the  birds  in  the  trees 
is  the  same  spot  where,  in  the  summer  of  1863, 
so  much  life  and  action  was  seen  each  day;  and 
where,  instead  of  the  music  of  the  birds,  it  was 
the  music  of  the  whizzing  minie-ball  or  the 
shrieking  shell.  In  thought  I  went  back  to 
those  days  of  noise  and  blood,  and  I  involun- 
tarily looked  over  to  Fort  Hill  to  see  if  the  Con- 
federate stronghold  was  still  there,  and  listened 
to  hear  the  sharp  crack  of  the  sharpshooter's 


VICKSBURG  165 

rifle  from  the  trenches,  but  all  is  quiet  and 
hushed.  I  am  soothed  by  the  stillness,  the  quiet 
and  peace  that  pervades  these  hills  and  ravines, 
and  I  wander  in  memory's  hall  of  the  long  ago, 
when  I  am  brought  back  to  the  present  by  Cap- 
tain Rigby,  with:  "Now,  Crummer,  you  must 
locate  the  position  of  the  camp  of  your  regi- 
ment during  the  siege. ' '  This  I  proceeded  to  do, 
having  no  difficulty,  for  the  "Shirley  House" 
is  still  there,  although  tumbling  down  and  go- 
ing to  ruin.  Thanks  to  the  Illinois  Commis- 
sion, headed  by  Gen.  John  C.  Black  and  others, 
Congress  has  made  an  appropriation  to  have 
the  "Shirley  House"  restored  to  its  former 
state.  This  house  will  be  remembered  for  its 
prominence  during  the  siege  as  a  place  of  ob- 
servation by  general  officers  and  as  headquar- 
ters of  the  45th  Illinois.  Quite  a  number  of 
officers  and  soldiers  were  shot  in  this  house  by 
the  Confederate  sharpshooters. 

I  wandered  through  its  ruins  and  you  cannot 
imagine  my  feelings  as  I  stepped  into  the  north- 


166  VICKSBURG 

west  room  and  stood  on  the  identical  spot 
where  on  July  2,  1863,  in  the  afternoon,  while 
writing  out  an  ordinance  report,  a  Confeder- 
ate sharpshooter  sent  a  minie-ball  through  my 
right  lung. 

I  placed  marker  403  as  the  center  of  our  camp 
and  No.  484  marks  the  right  of  the  camp  of  the 
45th  Regiment.  This  done,  we  approached  Fort 
Hill  on  the  Jackson  road,  and  although  the  in- 
trenchments  and  forts  have  been  generally  lev- 
eled off  for  agricultural  purposes,  changing  the 
face  of  the  hills,  yet  there  is  enough  left  to  show 
where  the  main  lines  were.  No.  489  marks  the 
point  where  Major  L.  H.  Cowen,  45th  Illinois, 
was  killed  in  the  assault  on  ihe  afternoon  of 
May  22, 1863.  The  charge  was  made  by  the  regi- 
ment, by  right,  in  front.  Major  Cowen  and 
myself  were  in  the  lead  and  running  together 
when  he  fell.  Being  Orderly  Sergeant  of  Co.  A, 
it  was  my  duty  to  be  there. 

No.  488  marks  the  center  of  the  line  of  the 
45th  Illinois  at  the  time  of  its  closest  approach 


VICKSBURG  167 

to  the  Confederate  line  in  the  assault  of  May 
22,  1863. 

While  walking  over  this  ground  I  remem- 
bered how  close  we  hugged  that  sloping  hill, 
lying  there  in  the  scorching  sun,  with  no  chance 
to  return  the  withering  fire  of  the  enemy. 

Captain  Eigby  then  asked  me  if  I  could  lo- 
cate the  "crater"  and  Gen.  Logan's  line  of  ap- 
proach to  it.  I  walked  over  the  hill,  groping 
my  way  through  the  tall  weeds  and  under- 
growth, and,  coming  back  to  the  captain,  re- 
ported, by  saying,  "I  can."  "Good,"  he  said; 
"you  may  drive  the  markers."  I  then  drove 
marker  No.  487  at  the  center  of  the  west  line  of 
the  crater  made  by  the  explosion  under  the  3rd 
Louisiana  Redan  (we  called  it  Fort  Hill)  June 
25,  1863.  It  may  be  questioned  why  I  could  ba 
so  certain  about  the  location  of  the  "crater," 
in  as  much  as  the  fort  had  been  completely  de- 
molished. My  principal  reason  is  this:  Ser- 
geant Esping,  of  our  regiment,  who  fell  in  the 
"crater,"  pierced  by  a  ball  through  his  brain, 


168  VICKSBURG 

was  by  my  side  at  the  time.  We  were  together 
in  the  northwest  corner  of  the  *  *  crater ' '  and  we 
had  a  splendid  chance  of  doing  good  work,  by 
looking  off  down  the  ridge  to  the  right  and 
northwest  from  the  ''crater,"  and  firing  on 
the  Confederates  in  the  trenches.  Those  old 
trenches  where  the  Confederates  were  on  June 
25,  1863,  are  still  there,  so  in  walking  over  the 
hill  and  getting  the  right  angle  to  those 
trenches,  I  was  able  to  locate  the  "crater." 

Markers  Nos.  485  and  486  indicate  the  line 
of  Logan 's  sap,  or  approach,  to  Fort  Hill,  com- 
mencing at  the  Jackson  road.  Captain  Rigby 
thanked  me  heartily  for  my  services  of  the  day. 

The  45th  Illinois  Infantry  bore  an  honorable 
part  in  the  siege,  as  the  official  records  show. 

The  report  of  our  Brigade  Commander,  Gen. 
M.  B.  Leggett,  published  in  the  official  records 
at  Washington,  under  date  of  July  6, 1863,  rela- 
tive to  the  charge  and  fighting  in  the  *  *  crater, ' ' 
is  interesting  and  tends  to  corroborate  the  writ- 
er's  statements. 


VICKSBURG  169 

*  *  *  "At  3:30  p.  m.  of  June  25, 1863,  my 
command  was  in  readiness,  the  45th  Illinois  be- 
ing the  first,  supported  by  the  other  regiments 
of  the  brigade  and  Lieut.  H.  C.  Foster  of  the 
23rd  Indiana,  with  100  men,  being  placed  in  the 
left  hand  sap,  with  orders  to  charge  with  the 
45th  Illinois,  provided  they  attempted  to  cross 
the  enemy's  works.  At  4:30  o'clock  the  mine 
was  sprung  and  before  the  dirt  and  smoke  was 
cleared  away  the  45th  Illinois  had  filled  the  gap 
made  by  the  explosion  and  were  pouring  deadly 
volleys  into  the  enemy.  As  soon  as  possible 
loop-hole  timber  was  placed  upon  the  works  for 
the  sharpshooters,  but  the  enemy  opened  a  piece 
of  artillery  at  very  close  range  on  that  point 
and  the  splintering  timbers  killed  and  wounded 
more  men  than  did  balls,  and  I  ordered  the  tim- 
bers to  be  removed.  Hand  grenades  were  then 
freely  used  by  the  enemy,  which  made  sad  havoc 
amongst  my  men,  for,  being  in  the  crater  of  the 
exploded  mine,  the  sides  of  which  were  covered 
by  the  men,  scarcely  a  grenade  was  thrown 
without  doing  damage,  and  in  most  instances 
horribly  mangling  those  they  happened  to 
strike.  The  45th  Illinois,  after  holding  the  po- 
sition and  fighting  desperately  until  their  guns 
were  too  hot  for  further  use,  were  relieved  by 
the  20th  Illinois.  The  2Dth  Illinois  was  relieved 
by  the  31st  Illinois  and  they  in  turn  by  the  56th 
Illinois,  but,  their  ammunition  being  bad,  they 
were  unable  to  hold  the  position  and  were  re- 
lieved by  the  23rd  Indiana;  the  17th  Iowa  then 
relieving  the  23rd  Indiana,  and  the  31st  Illinois 
relieving  them,  held  the  position  until  daylight, 


170  VICKSBURG 

when  the  45th  Illinois  relieved  them  and  held 
the  position  until  10:00  a.  m.  of  the  26th;  the 
124th  Illinois  then  relieved  the  45th  Illinois  and 
held  the  position  until  5 :00  p.m.,  when  I  received 
orders  to  withdraw  to  the  left  hand  gap,  where 
I  maintained  the  position  until  the  surrender 
on  July  4th,  when,  by  order  of  Major  General 
Logan,  my  brigade  led  by  the  45th  Illinois,  was 
honored  with  the  privilege  of  being  the  first  to 
enter  the  garrison,  and  the  flag  of  the  45th  Illi- 
nois the  first  to  float  over  the  conquered  city. ' ' 

The  National  Park  Commission  are  doing 
a  noble  work.  Capt.  Rigby  is  the  right  man 
in  the  right  place  and  with  a  corps  of  engi- 
neers is  working  day  and  night  to  make  a  beau- 
tiful park  for  the  delight  of  the  people  that  come 
after  us.  The  state  of  Iowa  has  done  the  noble 
thing  in  appropriating  $150,000  to  place  monu- 
ments in  the  park  on  the  spot  which  the  differ- 
ent Iowa  regiments  occupied  during  the  siege. 
The  Illinois  legislature  has  also  made  an  appro- 
priation of  $250,000  for  monuments  for  the  78 
different  organizations  engaged  in  that  mem- 
orable siege.  When  the  memorial  tablets  from 
the  different  states  shall  have  been  placed  and 


VICKSBURG  171 

the  park  fully  laid  out  and  completed,  it  will 
be  one  of  the  notable  historic  battle  fields  of  the 
Union,  and  one  which  we  of  the  North  will  oc- 
casionally visit  with  great  interest.  And  now 
I  close  my  sketch  with  this  prayer:  that  war 
may  never  come  to  our  fair  land  again,  but  that 
blessed  peace,  prosperity  and  righteousness 
may  ever  be  our  heritage. 


GENERAL  U.  S.  GRANT 

From  a  photograph  taken  in  Galena,  Illinois,  at  the  close  of  the  Civil  War 


GENERAL   U.  S.  GRANT 

CHAPTER  XV. 

AN  APPRECIATION. 

My  closing  chapter  will  be  about  our  great 
commander,  General  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  giving 
a  few  personal  incidents  of  his  life. 

Orators,  authors  and  statesmen  have  spoken 
and  written  of  the  great  General  so  much  it 
would  seem  as  though  there  was  nothing  more 
could  be  said.  However,  as  one  who  followed 
him  through  numerous  battles  during  the  Civil 
War,  and  who,  at  the  close  of  the  war,  became 
a  resident  of  Galena,  111.,  and  became  person- 
ally acquainted  with,  and  attended  the  same 
church  as  the  General,  I  feel  I  have  the  right 
to  note  down,  before  the  bugle  sounds  taps,  a 
few  words  of  appreciation  of  the  man  I  knew. 

For  four  years,  just  after  the  close  of  the 
war,  I  was  in  the  employ  of  Col.  W.  B.  Rowley, 

173 


174  GENERAL   TJ.    S.    GRANT 

who  was  then  Clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Jo 
Daviess  County,  111.,  and  who  had  been  one 
of  the  close  family  staff  of  General  Grant  during 
the  early  part  of  the  war. 

General  John  A.  Kawlins  and  Colonel  Bow- 
ley  were  neighbors  of  the  General  before  the 
war  and  knew  him  well  and  intimately,  and  it 
is  believed  by  the  citizens  of  Galena,  and  known 
by  many  prominent  men  in  the  army,  that  these 
two  men  had  more  to  do  in  helping  and  advis- 
ing General  Grant  during  the  early  part  of  the 
war,  and,  indeed,  all  through  the  war,  so  far 
as  General  Eawlins  is  concerned,  than  any  of 
his  Generals  or  friends  in  Congress  or  out  of  it. 

Colonel  Rowley  and  myself  naturally  had 
many  conversations  over  the  incidents  of  cer- 
tain battles  and  about  General  Grant. 

During  the  war  and  after,  the  enemies  of 
Grant  circulated  many  stories  about  his  being, 
drunk  on  this  and  that  occasion. 

If  I  wanted  to  stir  Colonel  Rowley  up  to  a 


GENERAL    U.    S.    GRANT      .  175 

fighting  mood,  and  hear  him  use  a  "big,  big  D" 
(for  he  could  use  them  occasionally),  I  would 
ask  him:  "Colonel,  how  about  this  new 
yarn  of  Grant 's  being  drunk  at  Shiloh  when  the 
battle  commenced?"  The  question  was  the 
spark  that  exploded  the  magazine  of  wrath  and 
the  Colonel  would  reply:  "All  a  d — d  lie. 
Wasn't  I  there  with  him  all  the  time;  don't  I 
know.  When  will  all  the  d — d  liars  get  through 
telling  their  d — d  lies  about  Grant. ' '  And  then 
I  would  chuckle  to  myself  and  say:  "Them's 
my  sentiments,  too." 

It  has  been  said  of  General  John  A.  Bawlins 
(chief  of  General  Grant's  staff),  and,  I  believe, 
it  must  be  true,  for  Colonel  Eowley  once  told 
me  it  was ;  that  when  Rawlins  got  mad  he  could 
use  more  "cuss  words"  than  any  man  in 
the  army.  General  Grant  never  used  "cuss 
words,"  but  he  loved  these  two  men,  notwith- 
standing their  habit  of  emphasizing  their  re- 
marks sometimes  with  a  big  D. 


176  GENERAL  U.  S.  GRANT 

Grant  loved  his  friends  and  was  always  true 
to  them.  Grant  wouldn't  lie;  even  in  small 
matters  he  insisted  that  the  truth  should  be 
spoken.  It  is  related  of  him  that,  after  he  be- 
came President  and  while  one  day  he  was  busy 
with  his  cabinet,  some  one  called  to  see  the 
President.  One  of  the  cabinet  officers  directed 
the  servant  to  say  to  the  caller  that  the  Presi- 
dent was  not  in.  "No,"  said  the  General;  "tell 
him  no  such  thing.  I  don't  lie  myself  and  I 
don't  want  my  servants  to  lie  for  me." 

A  great  man  who  was  associated  with  him 
in  public  life  has  said  of  him:  "He  was  the 
most  absolutely  truthful  man  I  ever  met  in  all 
my  experiences."  Another  man  who  knew  him 
well  said  of  General  Grant:  "He  hated  two 
classes  of  men — liars  and  cowards." 

General  Grant  never  aspired  to  political 
office,  although  urged  by  his  friends  to  do  so. 
Just  after  the  fall  of  Vicksburg  some  of  the 
leading  citizens  of  Galena  visited  him  at  that 


GENERAL  U.   S.  GRANT  177 

place.  One  day,  in  a  general  conversation,  one 
of  them  asked  what  office  he  would  like  to  have 
after  the  war  was  over.  He  replied  that  there 
was  one  office  he  would  like  to  have  when  he 
returned  to  Galena.  His  friends  pledged  him 
their  best  endeavors  in  aiding  him  for  what- 
ever he  might  seek,  and,  being  pressed  to  name 
the  office,  Grant  said:  "I  would  like  to  be 
alderman  from  my  ward  long  enough  to  have 
a  sidewalk  built  to  my  residence."  Of  course, 
there  was  a  laugh  and  the  matter  was  dropped. 
Upon  his  first  visit  to  his  old  home  at  Galena, 
at  the  close  of  the  war,  the  little  city  of  many 
hills  got  up  a  reception  upon  a  grand  scale  for 
its  hero.  The  city  was  smothered  with  flags 
and  decorations;  the  streets  arched  with  flags 
and  words  of  welcome.  When  the  General  ar- 
rived amid  the  booming  of  cannon  and  the 
huzzas  of  the  people,  he  was  hurriedly  lifted 
into  a  barouche  and  started  up  the  street  at  the 
head  of  a  long  procession.  The  first  arch  he  met 


178  GENERAL  U.  S.  GRAFT 

had  in  large  letters :  * '  General,  the  sidewalk  is 
built."  The  General  laughed  and  remarked: 
"I  see  my  friends  remembered  I  wanted  to  be 
alderman. ' ' 

After  his  first  nomination  for  the  Presidency 
he  was  with  us  at  Galena  during  the  campaign, 
and  had  you  seen  the  General  moving  around 
so  quietly  and  unostentatiously  among  his 
neighbors  and  friends,  you  would  have  won- 
dered that  it  could  be  the  man  who  had  just 
been  declared  the  greatest  military  hero  of  the 
age,  and  that  he  was  soon  to  be  at  the  head  of 
the  nation. 

His  record  as  President  for  eight  years,  and 
the  honored 'guest  of  all  nations  during  his 
tour  around  the  world,  is  an  open  history  to  all. 

Upon  his  return  from  his  trip  'round  the 
world,  the  General  and  family  took  up  their 
abode  in  Galena.  The  city  again  welcomed  its 
hero  to  his  old  home  amid  the  plaudits  of  thou- 
sands that  came  from  near  \and  far  to  tread  its 


GENERAL  U.  S.  GRANT  179 

stony  streets  and  pay  their  tribute  of  respect 
and  honor  to  the  modest,  silent  man  known 
the  world  over.  I  think  the  General  was  more 
stirred  to  the  heart  with  the  kind  tokens  of  love 
and  friendship  and  honor  which  his  old  neigh- 
bors and  citizens  of  Galena  showered  upon  him 
than  he  was  from  all  the  attentions  of  nobility 
the  world  'round. 

General  Grant's  home  life  and  his  life  among 
the  people  of  Galena,  even  after  the  world  had 
acclaimed  him  the  greatest  General  of  the 
ages,  and  honors  had  been  showered  upon  him 
by  the  crowned  heads  of  the  world,  was  that 
of  a  quiet,  unobtrusive,  simple  life  like  his 
neighbors  and  citizens. 

We  loved  him  as  a  neighbor  and  citizen.  We 
said  among  ourselves:  " Grant's  head  is  the 
same  size  it  was  before  the  war." 

He  has  been  called  the  " silent  man."  Yes, 
he  was  rather  guarded  in  his  talks  among  men 
generally,  but  I  want  to  say  (for  I  have  list- 


180  GENERAL  U.   S.  GRANT 

ened  to  him),  that  when  among  his  friends  and 
neighbors,  if  you  could  get  him  started,  he  was 
one  of  the  most  entertaining  talkers  I  ever  list- 
ened to. 

During  the  month  of  June,  1880,  while  the 
Republican  Convention  was  in  session  in  Chi- 
cago, General  Grant  and  family  were  living  in 
Galena.  He  had  held  the  Presidency  two  terms ; 
he  had  also  been  'round  the  world,  feted  and 
honored  everywhere  by  kings  and  emperors, 
and  now  he  had  returned  to  the  hills  of  old 
Galena  to  spend  his  days  in  rest  and  quiet;  but 
his  friends,  who  believed  in  him,  urged  him  to 
again  stand  for  the  nomination  for  the  Presi- 
dency. His  friends  of  Galena,  111.,  knew  what 
his  personal  wishes  were;  he  did  not  wish  to 
again  resume  the  burdens  of  office.  However, 
according  to  the  request  of  his  family,  especially 
his  wife,  and  also  to  his  political  friends,  he 

finally  consented  to  make  the  run.    You  will  re- 

• 
member  what  a  fight  there  was  in  the  conven- 


GENERAL  U.  S.  GRANT  181 

tion — how  the  immortal  300,  led  by  Roscoe 
Conkling,  clung  to  the  silent  hero  to  the  last. 

While  the  Convention  was  in  progress,  each 
day  the  General  came  down  town  about  10 
o'clock  and  spent  an  hour  or  two  with  his  old 
friend  and  comrade,  Colonel  W.  R.  Rowley. 
Rowley  was  then  Judge  of  the  County  Court, 
and  I  was  clerk  of  the  same  court.  Some  of 
the  friends  were  privileged  to  be  there.  I  re- 
member distinctly  that  all  of  us  were  intensely 
interested  in  every  telegram  that  came  to  the 
office,  but  the  General  paid  very  little  atten- 
tion to  them.  He  kept  us  entertained  with  most 
vivid  recitals  of  what  he  had  seen  and  heard  in 
his  travels  'round  the  world. 

There  was  one  man's  name  before  the  Con- 
vention who  had  a  few  votes  as  nominee  for 
President.  This  man  had  been  a  trusted  friend 
of  General  Grant  in  former  years,  but  his  ac- 
tions had  caused  many  of  the  General's  friends 
to  doubt  his  friendship.  One  afternoon,  while 


182  GENERAL  U.  S.  GRAFT 

we  were  in  General  Rowley's  office,  a  telegram 
came  that  convinced  Rowley  and  the  friends 
that  this  man,  while  pretending  undying  friend- 
ship for  the  General,  was  playing  him  false. 
Rowley  and  others  were  outspoken  in  their  de- 
nunciation of  the  course  of  this  man  who  had 
helped  Grant  in  former  years  and  who  Grant 
had  helped  so  much  in  the  past.  The  General 
was  as  calm  and  placid  as  though  everything 
was  lovely,  his  only  remark  being:  "He  was 
my  friend  when  I  needed  friends,  if  I  can't 
trust  him,  I  can't  trust  anybody."  The  friend 
referred  to  was  Hon.  E.  B.  Washburne. 

Hon.  Roscoe  Conkling  said  of  General  Grant : 
"Standing  on  the  highest  eminence  of  human 
distinction,  modest,  firm,  self  poised,  having 
filled  all  lands  with  his  renown,  he  has  seen 
not  only  the  high  born  and  the  titled,  but  the 
poor  and  lowly  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the 
earth  rise  and  uncover  before  him.  The  name 
of  Grant  shall  glitter  a  bright  and  imperish- 


GENERAL  U.  S.  GRANT  183 

able  star  in  the  diadem  of  the  Republic  when 
those  who  have  tried  to.  tarnish  it  are  molder- 
ing  in  forgotten  graves  and  when  their  names 
and  epitaphs  have  tarnished  utterly." 

This  is  a  noble  tribute  of  one  great  man  for 
another;  but  we,  his  humble  neighbors  of  Ga- 
lena, 111.,  who  knew  the  General  so  well,  love  to 
think  of  the  home  life  of  this  great  man.  One 
characteristic  of  his  life  is  not  generally  known, 
and  I  make  bold  to  set  it  down  in  type  that  all 
the  world  may  know  it.  General  Grant  was  a 
lover  of  his  wife  all  through  his  married  life. 
A  little  secret  of  the  home  life  of  this  devoted 
man  was  known  among  the  women  of  Galena, 
for  they  would  tell  their  husbands  what  a  lover 
General  Grant  was,  and  to  prove  it  they  would 
tell  us  that  the  General  laced  his  wife's  shoes 
for  her. 

While  General  Grant  and  Mrs.  Grant  were 
in  Europe  they  paid  a  visit  to  the  tomb  of  Fer- 
dinand and  Isabella.  The  thought  of  the  ashes 


184  GENERAL  U.  S.  GRANT 

of  the  royal  couple  sleeping  side  by  side 
through  the  centuries  appealed  to  the  devoted 
husband,  and,  turning  to  his  wife,  he  said: 
"  Julia,  that  is  the  way  we  should  lie  in  death." 
So,  when  the  Great  General  died  they  found  a 
memorandum  left  by  him  as  to  his  last  resting 
place.  First,  he  preferred  West  Point  above 
others,  but  for  the  fact  that  his  Wife  could  not 
be  placed  beside  him  there.  Second,  Galena,  or 
some  place  in  Illinois.  Third,  New  York ;  hence 
it  is  that  in  the  beautiful  tomb  at  Riverside,  the 
resting  place  of  the  General,  there  is  room  for 
the  ashes  of  Mrs.  Grant. 

After  General  U.  S.  Grant  had  answered  the 
last  roll  call  at  Mount  McGregor,  in  1885,  and 
the  sad  news  came  to  his  friends  and  neigh- 
bors of  his  former  home,  among  the  hills  of  the 
quaint  old  city  of  Galena,  111.,  preparations 
were  made  to  have  a  memorial  service  in  the 
Methodist  Church,  where  he  had  worshiped  be- 
fore and  after  the  war.  The  church  was 


GENERAL  U.  S.  GRANT  185 

draped  in  mourning.  In  front  of  the  pulpit  was 
a  stand  of  pure  white  flowers,  with  the  intials, 
U.  S.  G.,  in  purple  flowers. 

The  pew  formerly  occupied  by  the  General 
when  here  was  covered  with  the  United  States 
flag,  tastefully  draped.  The  house  was  filled 
with  his  friends  and  neighbors,  and  a  feeling 
of  personal  loss  was  felt  by  all.  The  services 
were  simple  but  beautiful.  Several  of  his  per- 
sonal friends  spoke  feelingly  of  the  Great  Gen- 
eral's life,  among  them  the  writer,  and  I  am 
persuaded  to  close  this  appreciation  by  quot- 
ing my  tribute  given  in  1885,  in  Galena,  upon 
that  occasion: 

"The  years  glide  swiftly  by,  the  gray  hairs 
come  creeping  on,  and  we  boys  of  the  army  of 
twenty  years  ago  are  no  longer  boys,  but  men, 
whose  numbers  lessen  each  day  as  the  months 
roll  by. 

Twenty-four   years    have   passed    since   we  , 
donned  the  blue  and  marched  down  the  streets 


186  GENERAL  TJ.  S.  GRANT 

and  off  to  war.  The  forms  and  faces  and  events 
of  those  times  at  this  distance  seem  unreal  antt 
shadowy,  like  the  remembrance  of  a  dream,  and 
yet  today,  in  the  midst  of  the  great  sorrow  that 
hangs  over  the  land  over  the  fall  of  our  great 
cheiftain,  we  are  again  reminded  of  the  wav- 
ing flags  and  fluttering  scarfs,  the  inspiring 
strains  of  martial  music,  the  shrill  notes  of  fife 
and  drum,  and  the  booming  of  cannon.  We 
are  today  again  reminded  (for  the  death  of  our 
hero  brings  to  us  vividly  the  past  days  in  which 
he  took  so  great  a  part).  I  say,  again  are  we 
reminded  of  the  tears  and  prayers  and  prom- 
ises— the  music  of  soft  voices  and  gentle  words, 
the  brave  words  spoken  by  mothers,  sisters, 
sweethearts,  the  parting  words,  the  last  good- 
bye. We  cannot  forget,  nay,  we  live  over  again 
the  battles  of  Donelson,  Shiloh,  Corinth,  Vicks- 
burg  and  other  victorious  battlefields  following 
our  hero,  whose  memory  we  are  tonight  to  cher- 
ish and  revere. 


GENERAL,  U.   S.  GRANT  187 

"All  these  dear  and  sacred  memories  of 
those  stirring  times  come  wafted  to  us  today 
like  the  weird  airs  of  an  ^Eolian  harp  swept  -by 
unknown  winds,  and  the  ear  is  touched,  and 
through  the  brain,  nerve  and  soul,  and  our 
hearts  beat  in  sympathy  and  unison. 

"So,  tonight,  as  a  nation  mourns  the  fall  of 
the  Great  Commander,  we  boys  of  the  twenty- 
four  years  ago  are  more  than  privileged  to  add 
our  tears  of  sorrow  as  we  follow  in  spirit  our 
hero  to  his  last  resting  place. 

"We  boys  loved  him.  Often  he  led  us  amidst 
the  storm  of  shot  and  shell  and  where  death 
faced  us  on  every  hand;  but  we  soon  learned 
that  although  it  meant  hard  fighting  to  follow 
General  Grant,  yet  it  always  promised  victory, 
and  that  gave  us  inspiration  to  fight  harder. 

"General  Grant  was  a  man  of  transcendent 
military  ability.  In  the  book  of  fate  it  was 
written:  'He  shall  be  a  chief  and  a  captain.' 
But  above  all  he  was  a  manly  and  a  pure  man. 


188  GENERAL  U.  S.  GRANT 

He  was  tender  and  trusty  and  true. 
"  "The  bravest  are  the  tenderest, 
The  loving  are  the  daring.' 

"I  always  admired  the  humble  side  of  his 
character.  I  think  humility  was  one  of  his  finest 
traits;  although  feted  and  honored  as  no  man 
of  this  continent  ever  has  been,  he  never  for  a 
moment  showed  any  signs  of  realizing  his  great- 
ness, or  evincing  a  desire  to  count  the  honors 
conferred.  Retiring  in  disposition,  yet  bold  and 
brave  to  act  when  necessity  demanded  it,  I 
speak  of  him  in  loving  memory.  You  all  knew 
him  here  in  his  former  home,  and  who  with  him 
have  worshiped  oftimes  in  this  church,  and  you 
all  know  that  he  was  the  bravest  of  the  brave 
and  the  truest  of  the  true. 
"  'His  mein,  his  speech,  were  sweetly  simple; 

But  when  the  matter  matched  his  mighty 
mind, 

Up  rose  the  hero ;  on  his  piercing  eye 


GENERAL  U.   S.  GRANT  189 

Sat  observation;  on  each  glance  of  thought, 

Decision  followed. ' 

"As  the  day  came,  so  duty  appeared,  and  the 
brave  old  General  took  it  up  and  did  it  earn- 
estly and  well. 

"How  well  great  battles  and  campaigns  were 
planned  and  fought ;  how  safely  and  wisely  he 
guided  the  ship  of  state;  how  modestly  he  re- 
ceived honors  of  the  world  from  crowned  heads ; 
how  gladly  he  returned  to  the  walks  of  a  hum- 
ble citizen;  how  bravely  and  patiently  he  suf- 
fered through  his  terrible  affliction — are  they 
not  all  known  to  us,  and  are  they  not  written 
upon  the  pages  of  history  for  our  children's 
children  to  read  and  study? 

"Is  it  weak,  that  we  who  followed  the  ever- 
victorious  flag  of  our  great  Commander,  and 
who  with  him  stood  in  trying  places  against 
evil  and  treason,  should  drop  our  tears  upon 
the  fallen  form  of  him  whom  we  loved?  Nay, 
but  let  them  fall,  they  but  speak  in  louder  tones 


190  GENERAL  U.  S.  GRANT 

than  words  can,  of  the  love  and  regard  we  had 
for  him,  who,  as  the  years  roll  by,  will  be  hon- 
ored and  extolled  as  one  of  the  greatest  of  all 
nations. 

"Around  the  throne  of  the  Eternal  God  must 
hover  the  spirit  of  such  as  he  who  lived  with- 
out ever  having  a  selfish  thought. 

"The  steadfast  friend,  the  gallant  soldier, 
the   great  Commander  has  fallen  asleep. 
"Kest  thee,  friend,  soldier,  patriot, 
Thy  work  is  done." 


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